Three weeks ago the equestrian team was facing a crisis at the Skidmore show. Despite what seemed to be solid riding, the Red consistently got bad marks. Instead of giving up however, Cornell rallied to take second place at the show. Ever since that test, the Red has been on a roll. Two weeks ago at its own show, the Red gave a strong performance to take first place and remain alive for zones. This past Saturday Cornell had its strongest show of the season, scoring a season high 45 points and cut Skidmore’s lead to 15 points.
“We have been strong these past few weeks, are riding has been great. We are peaking and the best time to be peaking is during crunch time,” head coach Chris Mitchell said of the team’s recent success.
Skidmore followed the Red with 39 points, while Ithaca College was third with 34 points. Morrisville was fourth (33), followed by Colgate (28), Hartwick (23), Cobleskill (16), Binghamton (15), Siena (8) and Rensselaer (7).
Senior captain Julie Canter had another phenomenal performance. She captured first place in both the Open Flat and the Open Fences. From her performance, she qualified for regionals in both divisions. She also was named high point rider of the show. This comes off a strong performance a week before at the Cornell show that was nearly identical. There she also took first place in both divisions and was the high point reserve rider for the show.
The Intermediate Division also had a strong day. Freshman Erica Rosen placed first in intermediate fences and third in the Intermediate Flat, where she was point rider. Fellow freshman Kate Reynolds took second in the Intermediate Fences, where she was the point rider. Sophomore Alaina Hoffman finished fourth in the Flat.
In the Novice Division, freshman Gillian Pech acted as point rider and placed first in both the novice fences and the novice flat. She joined Canter in the high point ride off. Hoffman also placed first in the Novice Fences. Sophomore Eva Conant, who recently moved up to the Novice Division, finished third in the novice flat.
In the Advanced-Walk-Trot, Becky Hermann took second, while Mari Waterman took third and in the process, qualified for regionals. In Beginner Walk-Trot-Canter, junior Patty Kahwaty took third while sophomore Lindsey Campbell placed second as point rider. In the Walk-Trot division, Linda Nguyen acted as point rider, finishing first.
The team will have its final show of the season on March 23rd at Hartwick. It will need another strong showing if it is going to catch Skidmore.
“The girls have been staying focused. They can taste it. With the momentum we have we can do it,” Mitchell said.
Archived article by Chris Callanan