Dartmouth equestrian had four riders qualify to compete in Zones at the post-season regional competition held at Dartmouth's Morton Farm Sunday. This strong showing followed the team's third-place win at the Colby-Sawyer show Saturday.
Dartmouth placed third out of nine teams at the final show of the season at Colby-Sawyer. Several excellent rides over fences and on flat contributed to Dartmouth's strong showing. Co-captain Sara Glazer '04 placed second in open fences, Katie Colfer '04 won intermediate flat and Ashley Hannebrink '07 won novice fences.
Elyssa Gelmann '06 said, "The spring season went by quickly, but Dartmouth had a great showing. I think we really finished strongly."
Also at the Colby-Sawyer show, Glazer, Colter and Meredith Hartley '05 qualified for postseason competition the next day at Regionals: Glazer in open fences, Colfer in intermediate flat and Meredith Hartley '05 in walk/trot/canter.
These three riders were among the 10 from the Dartmouth team who qualified for Regionals, which was held on Sunday at Morton Farm. Four of the 10 riders placed first or second in their classes, winning a chance to go to Zones next Saturday to compete for Nationals.
Coach Sally Batton said, "I am absolutely thrilled with our Zones qualifiers. We had two Regionals champions and three Regionals reserve champions, and it doesn't get much better than that."
Tim Malone '07 qualified in both open fences and open flat, winning reserve champion in both classes. Gelmann also won reserve champion in novice fences. Ashley McCaughan '04 was the intermediate flat champion and Janelle Moerlein '06 was the walk/trot/canter champion.
Gelmann said, "I was very happy with my riding today. There were a lot of riders in novice, so I was very pleased with my fourth place in novice fences, and of course I was thrilled to have qualified in novice flat among such a strong group."
One element of the regional competition that is not normally present in regular season shows is that many classes performed tests in addition to the normal fences and flat work to help the judge distinguish between the top riders.
Batton said, "In particular, Ashley McCaughan '04 was sitting in fourth place before her amazing test moved her into the Championship spot and a bid to Zones. It is practically unheard of to move from fourth to first in a flat test!"
Besides these four riders, several Regional competitors had strong rides and finished third, only a spot away from qualifying for Zones. Those placing third included Glazer in open fences, Taylor Smith '06 in novice fences, Abby Donahue '06 in novice flat and Yibei Shen '05 in walk/trot.
"I think the team rode really well this season and that all the riders rode their best today at Regionals," said Zones qualifier Moerlein, "and I wish that everybody could go to Zones."
Also at the regional competition, the high-point team and high-point rider awards for the season were handed out. Dartmouth placed third as a team in overall season standings. Malone took home reserve champion high-point rider, with co-captains Glazer and Lindsay Clayton '04 placing third and seventh among the open rider point rankings, respectively.
Batton said, "We had a great year. I think our judge for Regionals, Shaina Humphrey, said it best when she made a point after the competition of coming up to me and telling me how professional the Dartmouth riders looked and how much they've improved since the last time she judged here a couple years ago."
Malone, Glazer and Clayton also competed in the Cacchione Challenge Cup, in which the top 10 open riders in the region compete over both fences and on the flat. Glazer won the Cup and Malone placed fourth.
"Sara Glazer was incredible winning the Challenge Cup," said Batton. "Sara kept a cool head and had a good jumping round and then topped it off to win the Cup with a beautiful flat round!"
The team looks forward to supporting the four Zones qualifiers next week at the Zone 1 Championships at Stoneleigh-Burnham in Massachusetts.
"I'm really hoping to do well at Zones and make it to Nationals, but I know it will be a challenge," said Malone. "We're all going to practice really hard this week; all the Dartmouth riders are capable of winning against any competition if they ride well. Hopefully all four of us will be heading to Nationals in Tennessee."
