The Dartmouth equestrian team placed third out of nine total teams Saturday during a home show held at Morton Farm. The University of Vermont won and Mt. Ida placed second at the show. Dartmouth lost its overall season lead in the region with UVM pulling ahead by two points.
While as a team Dartmouth had a rough day, many individuals excelled with winning performances. First places winners included Tim Malone '07 in open fences, Annie Trumpold '05 in novice fences, Captain Janelle Moerlein '06 in novice fences, Tami Martin '08 in novice flat and Mitzi Huang '05 in walk/trot/canter.
Martin said, "Winning my flat class on Saturday was just what I needed -- I felt I had to redeem myself after my less that adequate jumping round."
Huang rode in her first walk/trot/canter class on Saturday after pointing up from walk/trot at the Colby-Sawyer show two weeks ago.
"I was so nervous going into the class," said Huang. "I barely breathed the entire time. When I heard that I had won, I couldn't believe it -- I was absolutely shocked."
Moerlein's win over fences and third-place finish in flat continue a season-long streak of performing well at shows while handling her new responsibilities of being a team co-captain.
"I rode a lot of really young horses this summer and that maybe improved my riding. It could also be that I've been getting extremely lucky with the horses that I've drawn at shows lately. Being captain has actually made being on the riding team a lot more stressful, but it's also made any successes that the riding team has that much more rewarding."
Several riders also came within striking distance of winning by placing second in their individual classes. These included Daisy Freund '08 in both open fences and open flat, Elizabeth Bissell '08 in intermediate fences, Malone in open flat, Trumpold in novice flat, and Celeste Griffin-Churchill '07 and Jeanie Lau '08 in walk/trot/canter.
By placing first in fences and second in flat, both Malone and Trumpold earned the right to compete in the Reserve High Point Rider Class.
Coach Sally Batton said, "It was a very exciting conclusion to our home show when both Annie and Tim rode in the ride-off for Reserve High Point Rider of the day. Both riders rode their best and Tim ended up taking the title."
After the fun of Dartmouth's home show, the team has next weekend off and concludes the fall season of competition Sunday, Nov. 14 at the University of New Hampshire.
