The Cornell Daily Sun (https://cornellsun.com/tag/equestrian/page/2/)
“Sometimes the horses, and just the rides you have, aren’t what you expected them to be and it ended up being a disappointing day, but we all rode to the best of our ability.”
Seven of the 11 Cornell riders missed their chances at the Zone 2 championship ever so slightly.
Cornell equestrian placed seventh overall in its first ever appearance at the Intercollegiate Horse Show Association Nationals in Louisville this weekend.
The equestrian team brought home an Ivy League championship with its 41-point performance on Saturday at Volvo Farm in Westford, Mass. Freshman Justine Gentilini was one of two riders at the event to win both of her classes (Novice Fences and Intermediate Flat) and won the High Point Rider for the competition. Four Cornell riders won individual titles and three finished as reserve champions. Sophomore Rachel Klion won the Novice Fences championship, senior Caroline Shulman won the Open Flat, junior Zoe Samuel won the Intermediate Flat and sophomore Morgan Broccoli won the Advanced Walk/Trot/Canter championship. Cornell’s reserve champions were junior Brooke Cagwin (Open Fences), sophomore Mary Winans (Intermediate Flat) and junior Elizabeth Briggs (Advanced Walk /Trot/ Canter).
Of the 15 riders that the equestrian team brought to the Region III championships in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., on Saturday, a third of them advanced to the Zone II championships.
Of the seven divisions, the Red notched a Zone Qualifier in five of them.
With Skidmore hosting, the regionals opened with the Open Fences division, but a Cornell rider did not break the top-3 — necessary to advance to the Zone championships — until the next category: In Intermediate Fences, junior Brooke Cagwin took third.
Senior co-captains Dana Kendrick and Caroline Schulman moved on to the championship round of Open Flat competition. Schulman finished in seventh place, but Kendrick scored the regional reserve champion spot by placing second in the finals — moving on to the Zone championships.
Fencing Qualifies Three for Finals
Yesterday members of the fencing team traveled to MIT for the NCAA Northeast Regional Championships, where three fencers — coincidentally, one from each squad — qualified for the Finals that will be held at Penn State during the second weekend of Spring Break.
“It was really tough,” said junior epee co-captain Tasha Hall, who qualified on the epee squad. “[Junior Sallie Dietrich] and I both made it to the final 12, and it was pretty intimidating. There were foreign [fencers] there who are really good and some of the top people from Nationals.”
This past weekend, the women’s equestrian team traveled to Saratoga Springs, N.Y., to compete in the Skidmore Show. Consistently one of the most competitive shows of the season, the women finished in second place overall with 33 points. Skidmore took first on their home turf with 47 points, with the Red closely beating out Hartwick and Morrisville, who tied for third with 32 points.
“We rode strongly all day,” junior Zoe Samuel said. “Obviously we were coming off of a great weekend [after placing first in the Cornell Show], but we were still happy with second place.”
The women’s tennis team looks to rebound this weekend when it faces Binghamton University and the University of Buffalo in a back-to-back home set. Cornell suffered a disappointing loss to Harvard on Sunday, falling short, 1-6, in its final match of the ECAC Women’s Tennis Team Championships.
In the Red’s (3-2, 0-0 Ivy) loss, sophomore Leah Seyburn at the No. 6 spot put forth an impressive outing, posting a 1-6, 6-2, 10-8 comeback. Senior captain Shayna Miller and senior Elizabeth Googe at the No. 2 spot also picked up Cornell’s only doubles win. The Red looks to build on these wins as it faces two tough teams with upcoming talent.
Although the equestrian team saw limited action over the winter break, select members did travel to Painesville, Ohio in early December to compete in the Tournament of Champions at Lake Erie College. The Red scored 13 points, placing it 10th out of 26 teams –– just shy of the ribbons. Representing Cornell were seniors Dana Kendrick and Caroline Shulman, junior Brooke Cagwin and sophomores Georgina Melbye, Lauren Lavo, Rachel Klion, Kelsey Craig and Scotty Weber.
The Red started off the day with tri-captain Kendrick riding to a first-place finish in the Open Flat class. She was joined by fellow captain Shulman in sixth.
This weekend the equestrian team will travel to Painesville, Ohio, to compete in the Tournament of Champions at Lake Erie College. The show will feature 22 schools from the east coast and beyond, many of which have ridden at Nationals in past seasons, or are expected to this year. What differentiates this tournament from typical collegiate horse shows, besides the sheer volume of teams competing, is the fact that every school can only bring eight riders, as opposed to the usual 16 or 20 who comprise a team at most regular season shows. For that reason, the Red will be relying on a relatively small amount of riders to keep up the team.