Yesterday, the equestrian team proved itself the best in the Ivy League at the All-Ivy Horse Show at Oxley Equestrian Center. The Red won the show with 45 points. Despite several other strong squads present, Cornell never faltered and performed well all day. Brown came in at the reserve spot with 36 points, followed by Princeton with 31, Dartmouth with 29, and Yale and Columbia tied with 18. Penn placed last with 14 points.
"Oh man, we had an outstanding day," said head coach Chris Mitchell. "All of our riders rode great – [and] we beat our next closest competitor, Brown, by nine points."
The Red had several excellent and surprising performances from its riders. Freshman walk-trotter Kristin Kotran, who had never shown before, made it all the way into the championship round in her class, eventually placing sixth.
This was also the first intercollegiate show for freshmen Erika Cullingford, Lelaina Marin, and Amber Januszewski.
"[Kotran] had a great day," commented Mitchell. "- [and] we were especially proud of [the four first-timers] for coming out and riding well in front of a big home crowd for the first time."
The Red earned most of its points from the experienced end, however. Junior co-captain Jeannette Pettit had a very strong day, placing first in the Open fences championship round and third in the Open flat championship round. Junior Alaina Hoffman won in Intermediate fences, while freshman Megan Gates won the Intermediate flat championship round.
Despite the team’s outstanding performance, for two Cornell riders, this season is not quite done. Sophomore novice Gillian Pech and sophomore walk-trotter Linda Nguyen will be competing at the IHSA National Championships in Tennessee.
"We raised some of the funds to go, and the athletic department kicked in the rest," explained Mitchell.
But right now, all the team wants to do right now is savor the moment.
"What a day we had," said Mitchell.
Archived article by Michael Pandolfini and Rebecca Cohen