The Dartmouth equestrian team captured the championship at its home show at Morton Farm last Saturday.
"We haven't had a home show victory in a number of years so this one was particularly sweet," coach Sally Batton said.
Dartmouth's stunning home performance is even more impressive because of the work that team members put in before and during the show. Besides competing, the team is responsible for making the show run smoothly by getting the horses ready for each ride throughout the day.
"The team really pulled together on Saturday to produce our champion team finish," Batton added. "The entire team rode really well and also worked hard to host this home horse show."
Intercollegiate equestrian competition is divided into five levels: walk/trot, walk/trot/canter, novice, intermediate and open. All five levels compete in a flat class; novice through open also competes in jumping.
Leading the team to victory, Elyssa Gelmann '06 and Taylor Smith '06 took first and second respectively in novice fences. John Olsen '05 won in his first ride in the novice flat level and Yibei Shen '06 took home blue in walk/trot.
"I'm very excited to have done well and to have advanced to Regionals," Olsen said. "Most importantly, I'm excited about how well the team has done this year in competition and how the team has bonded."
Hannah Haynie '03 placed second in walk/trot/canter and Ashley McCaughan '04 had strong showing placing second in both intermediate fences and flat. Captain Sara Glazer '04 rounded out the excellent performances finishing second in open fences.
Regular season competition ended with last Saturday's show. Dartmouth's win marks the culmination of a terrific season.
"The team has performed consistently well throughout the season, as evidenced by our win at our home show," McCaughan said.
Although this has been a rebuilding year for the equestrian team with many new additions to the team, as Olsen said, the team has worked hard together and had a lot of fun coming together as a group.
"I have wonderful memories from my first year on the equestrian team," Janelle Moerlein '06 said. "As a freshman, I really feel like the team cheerfully accepted me as a new member."
The season began with five shows last fall and finished with three shows this spring. Both individuals and the team have achieved success this year.
"It's been a great year for this team, with two championships and three Reserve Championships and six riders qualifying for the Regional Championships on April 5," Batton said.
Throughout the season, individual riders accumulate points by finishing well in competition. When a rider earns enough points at a level, he or she begins to compete in a higher level and automatically qualifies for the Regional Competition at the end of the season.
Dartmouth's qualifiers include Jill Carr '03 and Olsen in walk/trot/canter, Katie Colfer '04 in novice fences and novice flat and McCaughan in novice flat and intermediate fences.
"I worked really hard this year as did everyone on the team and I am excited to be seeing the results," Colfer said.
Captain Glazer qualified in open fences and captain Lindsay Clayton '04 qualified in intermediate flat and open fences. Glazer and Clayton also earned places in the Cacchione Challenge class, in which the top 10 open riders from the region compete for a spot at Zones.
Regionals will be held this Saturday at Morton Farm. Top finishers will compete in Zones on April 19 in Massachusetts.
Team spirit is high for the future. "I'm very excited with the team's performance this year," Clayton said. "Not only I am confident that we will have several riders go all the way to Nationals in Tennessee, but I am also looking forward to a very competitive 2003-04 season."
