Big Green riders competed in two equestrian shows last weekend, placing second at a competition hosted by the team on Saturday and fourth on Sunday at Colby-Sawyer College.
On her home turf, Kate Colfer '04 continued her excellent performance this year with another first-place finish in novice fences. Yibei Shen '05 also won first place in the walk-trot.
Behind these leading performances, Dartmouth captured the Reserve Champion for the third time this season in a total of seven shows.
Also contributing to the second-place finish were individual second-place finishes by Ashley McCoughan '04 in the intermediate fences, John Olsen '05 in the walk-trot-canter and Kate Colfer '04 in the novice flat.
The up-and-coming freshmen also performed well in the show. Elyssa Gelmann '06 and Abigail Donahue '06 both captured second-place finishes in novice fences. The team met expectations by further establishing itself as one of the three strongest teams in the region.
On Sunday, the team competed in a show at Colby-Sawyer. Dartmouth finished fourth out of a total of nine strong teams. Meredith Hartley '04 and Olsen both received first-place finishes in advanced walk-trot-canter, while Gelmann won the novice flat.
Colfer, along with Jill Carr '03, added second-place finishes in the novice flat, and captain Lindsay Clayton '04 finished second in the open flat.
Other high placements belonged to Janelle Moerlein '06 and Christina Butcher '03, who took second-place finishes in the advanced walk-trot-canter. The team performed well for its last show of the fall season.
Olsen said, "We have become such a close-knit team, and it was great to have all of our teammates around us, sharing in the excitement."
Coach Sally Batton was pleased with the performance of her riders in the past seven shows and is looking forward to the big shows in the spring.
According to Buchter, the players are eager for the spring as well. Buchter said, "We are looking forward to a fun spring season and to continue our dominance in four more regular shows, as well as in the All-Ivy and New England Classic. "
Dartmouth will host the regional invitational for which several riders have already qualified. The Big Green equestrian team is prepared and excited to continue its fantastic season and hopes to finish strong at the All-Ivy Invitational, to be held this spring at Cornell.
