On one occasion host Mount Holyoke College had the top three riders in the exact same class on October 12th. From left to right are Claire Herlin, Felicia Harrsch and Lexie Lohrer, each of whom competed in section 7B of open flat. Mount Holyoke won better than three-quarters of the undergraduate classes and came away eleven point winners over Smith College.

MOUNT HOLYOKE WINS 17 of 22 CLASSES, TAKES FIRST PLACE AT THEIR OWN SHOW

South Hadley, MA - Zone 1, Region 3 is the only region of five within New England where point cards are not posted in any way. In other words no one is sure who is winning until the points are revealed at the end of the day.

However it would be hard to expect anything other than a Mount Holyoke College victory based on the results of each class as they came and went. Of the 22 undergraduate classes held on October 12th the host Lyons won 17 of them. Mount Holyoke was especially strong on the flat, winning 11 of 13 classes. On top of this the Lyons earned seven red ribbons, which was one more than UMass and three more than Smith. If you count out the yellow ribbon winners Mount Holyoke had eight thirds compared to seven for UMass and four for Smith.

When the points were announced at the end of the day Mount Holyoke won with 40 points, seven fewer than at Smith the week before. One can only guess that on a few occasions a Mount Holyoke point rider must have placed behind a teammate who was not the point rider in the same section. By finishing ahead of Smith by a 40-29 count the Lyons took a commanding 29 point lead in the Region 3 hunter seat team standings through two shows.

On October 5th only twice did an undergraduate class come and go without a Mount Holyoke rider in the top two. One of those occasions was when Kaila Snape (on left) and Katie Spanos (on right) won the top two ribbons for UMass in the fourth of four sections of novice fences. Spanos would later win her novice flat to become part of a three-way ride-off for high point rider.

Though surprisingly Mount Holyoke did not have a rider in the top two within the open fences class which started the day, the Lyons roll call of blue ribbon winners would be prolific. Felicia Harrsch (senior, Landsdale, PA) won the second open fences class to open the floodgates. Hannah Thornton (junior, Seattle, WA in open fences) was next to win followed by Flynn Vickowski (senior, Longmeadow, MA, in intermediate fences), Maura Zaldonis (junior, Simsbury, CT, in same), Claire Herlin (sophomore, Austin, TX in novice fences), Samantha Stone (junior, Stoneham, MA in same), Ella Pittman (senior, Medfield, MA in open flat), Harrsch again (in open flat), Bridget Finnerty (freshman, Baltimore, MD in same), Laura Von Der Porten (junior, San Carlos, CA in advanced walk-trot-canter), Emma Blades (freshman, Wayne, PA in same), Emily Allard (freshman, Castle Rock, CO in intermediate flat), Heather Zadra (junior, Laguna Hills, CA in same), Stone again (in novice flat), Genevieve Couldwell (sophomore, Salt Lake City, UT in same), Toria Bobbitt (in walk-trot) and Katie Knutson (in same) to give the Lyons 17 blue ribbons plus two riders in the ride-off for high point rider. To top it off Madeline Shortt was twice a red ribbon winner, placing second to Vickowski in intermediate fences and equaling the ribbon in novice flat. Emily Bessette (in beginner walk-trot-canter), Camden Carter (in novice fences), Jessica Murray (in same), Anne Waldo (in intermediate fences) and Herlin (in open flat) also won red ribbons for Mount Holyoke.

Considering all the efforts Mount Holyoke made to win or block points Smith College should be commended for scoring exactly 29 points for the second straight weekend. The Pioneers managed to reach this number without a single blue ribbon on October 12th, though four red ribbons were a big help. It was not until the 14th undergraduate class of the day that a Smith rider cracked the top two. Jordan Menter (sophomore, Carbondale, CO) was second to Blades in advanced walk-trot-canter to get Smith heated up. From there Zoe Spieler (in intermediate flat), Michelle Dressner (novice flat) and Liz Reed - Harris (in walk-trot) joined the red ribbon parade. Menter pointed into novice with her showing as a bonus.

A junior from Pittsfield, Massachusetts, Cassie Vosburgh of Springfield College (on left) is seen here with coach Allison Guerin after placing second in open flat. Two classes later Katharyn Parini of the Pride (not pictured) would win the only section of beginner walk-trot-canter for Springfield's lone blue ribbon of the day.

If you were counting blue ribbons and red ribbons you might have thought the University of Massachusetts at Amherst was going to finish second. The Minutemen came close, scoring 28 points. Vicky Johnson, a freshman from North Redding, Massachusetts won the open fences class which started the day. Five classes later Hayley Porter (junior, Monson, MA) won her novice fences. Three classes later not only did Katie Spanos win her novice fences the runner up in this section was teammate Kaila Snape. Spanos, a junior from North Andover, Massachusetts, won the fourth and final UMass blue ribbon of the day much later, in novice flat. Therefore Spanos joined Harrsch and Stone in the ride-off. Snape would repeat her second place performance in novice flat. Aside from Snape red red ribbons were also awarded to Bridgit Douglas (in open fences), Alyssa Moore (novice fences), Charlotte Poppe (advanced walk-trot-canter) and Carla Gutherie (walk-trot).

Westfield State University had no novice flat rider and a total of five riders to fill the other seven divisions. However the Owls still reached the 20's with 21 points. Paige Hendrickson was second to Pittman in open flat while Stephanie Pelletier was second to Allard in intermediate flat for Westfield State's best ribbons of the day. Hendrickson finished the day technically in fourth in the Region 3 hunter seat open rider standings, trailing only Douglas (18), both Lohrer and Thornton (each with 20) and Harrsch (22).

Springfield College may have been fifth with 15 points but the Pride were the only school besides Mount Holyoke and UMass to win a class. Katharyn Parini, a senior from Sandwich, Massachusetts won the only section of beginner walk-trot-canter at today's show. This was no mean feat as Mount Holyoke had four of the six entries in this class! A short time earlier Cassie Vosburgh was second to Finnerty in open flat. Considering that Springfield did not have a rider either intermediate or novice division their 15 point effort is to be commended.

All of the jumping classes were held indoors to start the day. Then everyone went outdoors to flat, including Westfield State open rider Paige Hendrickson (on right). Seen here with coach Fran Cross, Hendrickson was second in open flat and sits only seven points off the lead in the Region 3 hunter seat open rider standings.

Amherst College scored 13 points without riders in three divisions. The highlight of the day for the Jeffs came in the first class, as open rider Claudia Easton was second to Johnson in the division. .

Williams College finished two points behind their arch rivals with 11 points. Isabella Tillman provided the Ephs' highlight of the day when she placed second to Thornton in open fences. Williams was another school without a full card, filling five of the eight divisions.

Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts could claim two riders entered across all divisions, with one a walk-trotter and the other a combination open flat/novice fences hybrid. While Franco Lichauco just missed a ribbon in walk-trot, Morgan Nankivell earned MCLA's only points of the day with a fifth in the section of open flat won by Pittman. This was only the third IHSA show ever for MCLA, which joined in time to show once at the end of last season. MCLA is coached by Beth Salvatore - Lebeau, whose sister Dina once competed for UMass.

While Springfield earned one undergraduate blue ribbon one of their alumni earned two. Natalee Rolince, who advanced to 2013 IHSA Nationals where she placed fifth in alumni flat, made her 2013-14 debut a memorable one. Rolince won both alumni classes, edging out University of California at San Diego graduate Sara Sandstrom over the alumni jumps and besting Williams graduate Deena Bak by a placing in alumni flat. 2013 Smith graduate Laura Clampitt made her alumni debut, placing third over fences and fifth on the flat. Former Smith rider Lizzy Jacobson was fourth in both alumni divisions which still leaves her in first place in the flat division thanks to a blue ribbon a week earlier.

Though Sue Payne (not pictured) is the head coach at Smith College, assistant Lizzy Jacobson (on left) instructs the walk-trot riders. Jacobson, who was fourth in both alumni classes earlier, is seen here with Liz Reed Harris, who was second in walk-trot for the Pioneers in the final official class of the day.

The Ride-Off: Though Harrsch is an open rider, novice teammate Stone was declared high point rider by judge Chuck Mayer. Harrsch did receive reserve high point over Spanos, giving Mount Holyoke all of the major ribbons for the day.

Those confused apps: If anyone can remember back in the days when a cell phone was only good for making a phone call it was commonplace to either go on the internet to look up a weather forcast or even watch the weather report on television or listen to it on the radio. Today anyone with a smartphone can get the weather with a push of a button (provided they purchased the correct app). The weather forcast across the board (phone app, internet, tv, radio) called for sunny skies and a chance for temperatures to reach the low '70's. The jumping classes were held first and these were held indoors. During that time it looked as though the forcast would be correct. However as soon as the show moved outside the skies darkened, the wind occasionally picked up and one or two people thought they felt a drop of rain. The entire outdoor/flat portion of the show was held in these conditions, with the temperature never reaching the 70's after all. Bill Payne, who is the husband of Smith College coach Sue Payne, mentioned that someone just looked up the weather on their phone. The app said that in South Hadley there were sunny skies and temps in the 70's at that moment!

The Hall is calling!: Some may know that the National Basketball Hall of Fame is located in Springfield, Massachusetts, clearly in Zone 1, Region 3 territory. Not everyone knows until now that Mount Holyoke College decided to create an Athletics Hall of Fame. For their inaugural group of inductees six athletes, one former administrator and one complete team were selected. The team in question was the 1985-86 Lyons Equestrian Team. This team was the first of three Mount Holyoke eq teams to date to win an IHSA National Championship. On October 19th festivities began with a luncheon followed by a photo session at the new Athletics Wall of Fame in MHC's Kendall Sports and Dance Complex. In the evening there was a gala at the Willits-Hallowell Conference Center where honorees were officially presented for induction. At least 19 of the 38 members of the '86 National Champions joined Head Coach C.J. Law (who was known as Carol J. Cahill at that time) for the ceremony. Also on hand was IHSA Founder and Executive Director Bob Cacchione. The Mount Holyoke Athletics website states "The character of the 1985-86 squad set the foundation for the success of the program today." It should be noted that the 1985-86 season was Law's second season at Mount Holyoke, her first season to produce a Region Championship (Smith was champion the previous season) and her first IHSA National Championship. Under Law Mount Holyoke has won 23 Region Titles, sent a full hunter seat team to Nationals 21 times and has won it all three times. If the first two shows of the 2013-14 campaign are a more accurate indicator than your average phone weather app then those numbers may grow yet again this school year.

---Steve Maxwell

Show Incidentals: Sunny skies early, then cloudy and windy with temperatures reaching the upper '60's. All over fences classes were held indoors. Start time: 8:59AM. Finish: 3:04PM - Includes 34 schooling break (Coaches and Captains meeting held prior to start of show). Point Cards posted in this region? No. Alumni Classes held in this region? Yes. Judge: Chuck Mayer, North Smithfield, RI. Stewards: Smith/University of Massachusetts at Amherst, DeMayo/Williams College and Guerin/Springfield College.

Team Totals: Mount Holyoke College (High Point Team) 40; Smith College (Reserve) 29, University of Massachusetts at Amherst 28; Westfield State University 21; Springfield College 15; Amherst College 13; Williams College 11 and Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts 2.

High Point Rider - Samantha Stone, Mount Holyoke College
Reserve High Point Rider - Felicia Harrsch, Mount Holyoke College