Mount Holyoke College junior Dani Corkill (left) wanted to be in the 'Biggest Picture Ever' on Campus Equestrian. So just for you, Dani, this picture is 369 pixels wide. Former Mount Holyoke rider Sara Royston is in the middle, while sophomore Cass Sanford is on the right. Corkill and Sanford won consecutive sections of intermediate fences on October 6th.

MOUNT HOLYOKE WINS REGION 3 SEASON OPENER BY TEN OVER UMASS AND HOST BECKER

Paxton, MA - On a record-setting day for Pomp and Circumstance to celebrate the first IHSA show ever held at the Becker College Equestrian Center, Mount Holyoke College won their official opener, finishing ten ahead of both co-host Becker and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. The Lyons had two teams at the Tournament of Champions Pre-Season Classic in Laurinburg, North Carolina two weeks earlier, with one of those two teams the Tournament champion. In a way, Mount Holyoke is technically 2-and-0.

Nine of the 26 blue ribbons awarded to undergraduates went to Mount Holyoke riders. Open rider Tracey Mack led the way, taking first in her section of open fences while later placing second in open flat. Also winning blue ribbons for the Lyons were Monica Sakurai (open flat), Amanda Pettengill (same), Dani Corkill (intermediate fences), Cass Sanford (same), Elizabeth Tripp (intermediate flat), Lora Ciborowski (novice fences), Meredith Feinberg (novice flat), Jacqueline Knutson (advanced walk-trot-canter) and Caitlin Dickinson (same). Mount Holyoke secured at least one blue ribbon in every division save for walk-trot, and though the Lyons left Paxton with only four red ribbons one belonged to Kate Miller, who was second in her walk-trot section. With a little more luck Mount Holyoke might have started the Region 3 season perfect.

From Scituate, Massachusetts, University of Massachusetts at Amherst sophomore Kate Lawrence won the first class of the season. Lawrence is seen here letting her father know via cellphone that she was awarded the blue ribbon in open fences.

While Mount Holyoke finished with 44 points, both Becker and UMass were next with 34. Though officially co-hosting with Holy Cross and the re-born Clark team, the day belonged as much to Becker as it did to Mount Holyoke. This writer has been to hundreds of IHSA shows over the years but save for several IHSA National shows he cannot recall a show with so much activity celebrating the debut of a new riding facility. Uniformed police officers greeted arrivals headed up the driveway. One of the largest selections of food you will ever see at an IHSA show was found at the concessions (but alas, no soda!). The Worcester Police Department Drill Team acted as today's Color Guard, and their own Tom Hurley stepped forward to sing a stirring rendition of our National Anthem. Becker Head Coach Ed Paro said that over 500 cars were expected. Besides many members of the Becker faculty, Dr. Ken Zirkle, the President of Becker College was also in attendance.

Though it was the day to celebrate Becker (not to mention the tremendous season they had in 2006-07), the Hawks did not hit their stride in the ring until the final jumping class of the morning, when freshman Heather Mrzyglod was second in novice fences. From Waltham, Massachusetts, Mrzyglod was one of three Becker riders to later win a blue ribbon. Junior Stacy Levitre won the Hawks first blue ribbon in intermediate flat while Freshman Beth Bloomer won their final first in open flat. Inbetween Mrzyglod won her novice flat, qualifying her for the ride-off on a day when no one managed two firsts.

Though UMass at Amherst tied Becker the Minutemen earned twice as many blue ribbons doing so. Kate Lawrence started the day winning the first section of open fences, and was followed by teammates Jocelyn Gray (intermediate flat), Lauren Kolodzinski (novice flat), Ariel Spuzzillo (beginner walk-trot-canter), Sarah Pennington (walk-trot) and Molly Bettencourt, who won the final class of the day prior to the ride-off, earning the blue in advanced walk-trot-canter. Both Spuzzillo and Pennington were winners in their respective IHSA debuts. Junior Amy Donahue was the only rider all day to win two red ribbons, placing second in both of her novice classes.

Normally accustomed to hosting the Region 3 season opener, Smith College moved their show to late spring for the first time, allowing Becker to have the first Saturday in October. Led by Marguerite Davenport (who won novice flat) and freshman Mary Borderwieck (a winner in novice fences in her IHSA debut) Smith finished with 27 points. The Pioneers were also red ribbon winners on four occasions.

Hampshire College scored only 31 points all of 2006-07, but now former UMass at Amherst and Findlay standout Mara Keith Hunter (left) is the Coach. The show was only four classes old when freshman Susannah LeCuyer earned a second in intermediate fences, giving Hampshire five points. By the end of the day, Hampshire had nearly scored as many points as all of last season, ending up fifth with 25 points.

Perhaps the most surprising debut came from Hampshire College. Hampshire was out of the IHSA for several seasons before a student named Tamara Raidoo re-started the team. Competing as a one-woman team most of fall 2006 Raidoo now has at least five teammates, and Hampshire can now fill five divisions on their point card. Perhaps the most important addition is not one of the new riders but rather Head Coach Mara Keith Hunter. Hunter originally rode for the University of Findlay but later completed her junior and senior seasons with UMass at Amherst. Having graduated this past May, Hunter still seems to be winning in the IHSA. Their first rider in the ring this season was freshman Susannah LeCuyer (whose sister Tessa graduated from Tufts this past May as the Zone 1, Region 4 USEF Cacchione representative at IHSA Nationals). LeCuyer was second in intermediate fences, and was followed by Bethany Lowe, who was second in novice fences. Three classes later senior Heather Alexander made her IHSA debut. From New York, New York, Alexander won novice fences, giving Hampshire 17 points in three divisions, more than half the 31 the team earned over the course of the entire 2006-07 season! Though the point sheets are not posted in Region 3, it is likely that only Mount Holyoke was ahead of Hampshire at the lunch break. The afternoon session produced another Hampshire blue ribbon, awarded to Navit Reid in beginner walk-trot-canter, and another red ribbon, awarded to Alexander in novice flat. Raidoo was third in her section of advanced walk-trot-canter as Hampshire scored 25 points, easily their highest score since perhaps the 90's. We are still checking into that statistic, and to see when the last Hampshire rider in a ride-off was before Alexander.

Amherst was nearly as good, finishing with 24 points. Not one of the Jeffs' eight riders won a blue ribbon though Jesse Tyma (in open flat) and Jennifer Rybak (in advanced walk-trot-canter) won red ribbons.

College of the Holy Cross was next with 21 points. Like Amherst the Crusaders did not secure any blue ribbons, though three red ribbons did head east to Worcester. Sophomore Lauren Duffee won one of them in open fences while Julia Biciunas earned a red one class later in intermediate fences. Much later Emily McCourt earned her red ribbon in intermediate fences. Holy Cross's walk-trot rider Justine Framularo was competing in an evaluation ride. The program listed the term "TBE" (To Be Evaluated) next to her name, the first time this writer has seen this in a program (and he wishes all regions identified the riders being evaluated this way). It is not clear what level Framularo will be at for future shows, but she earned a point for Holy Cross with a sixth here.

From Carlisle, Massachusetts, Williams freshman Leigh Davis poses with her blue ribbon won in her novice fences debut. Williams won one of only three blue ribbons not awarded to riders from the top five schools on this day.

Like Hampshire, Westfield State College has a new Head Coach who rode for UMass at Amherst. Fran Cross rode for UMass when Linda Jaskiel-Brown was the Head Coach, and Cross's debut was a pretty good one. Walk-trot rider Kirsten Giguere won a blue ribbon for Westfield, which finished with 18 points. Under Cross the Owls are already nearly a quarter of the way to last season's 74 point total.

And if two UMass graduates were not enough, a third Minuteman alum made her IHSA coaching debut. Like Keith Hunter, Clark Head Coach Michelle Abren rode for current UMass Coach Jerry Schurink, graduating in 2000 under her maiden name Michelle O'Connell. After a season without an IHSA team, Clark returned to score 13 points. Leading the way for the Cougars was Zoe Griss-Bush, who was second in the first of three sections of walk-trot.

Also scoring 13 points on this day was Williams College. However the Ephs did better on an individual basis than most of the schools below the top five. Freshman Leigh Davis won her IHSA debut, best in a field of six in the first section of novice fences. Williams walk-trotter Teresa Shirkova won outright while freshman Elizabeth Bingham was second to Reid in beginner walk-trot-canter.

Rounding out the scoring was Springfield College, which had only three riders at today's show, with each riding in the final three classes of the day. Amy Romano was fourth in her advanced walk-trot-canter section while Kristy McKillop was sixth one section of AWTC earlier.

Becker freshman Heather Mrzyglod had already been to IEA Nationals twice before her first day on the Hawks' team. Mrzyglod finished second in separate classes at the Interscholastic finals and was reserve high point rider in her IHSA debut.

The Alumni race: Only one of the two alumni classes held at today's show was legal. 2007 Becker graduate Mary Omelenchuck and 2007 Mount Holyoke alumni Laura Tarko competed in a two-way alumni fences class that was one rider short of the legal limit for the points to count towards Regionals. Omelenchuck won the division, ironically the first Becker blue ribbon won during an IHSA show in their new facility. With 2007 Clark graduate Katherine Kreil also enterred in alumni flat, those points counted. This time Tarko won the blue ribbon while Omelenchuck was second and Kreil third. It is believed that a few more alumni will come out in the coming weeks, making classes less than three strong the exception rather than the rule.

The Ride-Off: Alexander, Mack and Mrzyglod rode off at the end of the day for an additional ribbon. When it was over Judge Jay Sargent gave the blue ribbon to Mack. From Noank, Massachusetts, Mack had recently finished third in the medal class at the Tournament of Champions show (the medal division, 29 riders strong, took the place of a ride-off at that particular show). Mrzyglod was Reserve Champion, the former IEA standout with Dana Hall giving Becker another rider who will help the program continue to improve for some time to come.

Almost the most recent show: Yes it took awhile for us to finish this story. In the meantime Williams hosted the second Zone 1, Region 3 show of 2007-08. Mount Holyoke again was the winner, though with only 34 points this time. Smith College came close, finishing with 32 points and reserve high point team honors. Williams came up big at their show, scoring 24 points for fifth place. While we have no ride-off information on the Williams show we can tell you Kate Lawrence won both of her open classes to take over the lead in the Region 3 USEF Cacchione/Open Rider Standings, now a 23-22 leader over Mack headed into the UMass at Amherst show on October 21st.

---Steve Maxwell

Show Incidentals: Sunny and very warm, with High Temperatures in the upper 80's. Start time: 9:27AM. Finish: 5:10PM - includes two breaks totaling 80 minutes (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: Jay Sargent, Portsmouth, RI. Stewards: Law/Mount Holyoke College, Schurink/University of Massachusetts at Amherst and DeMayo/Williams College.

Team Totals: Mount Holyoke College (High Point Team) 44; Becker College (TIE-Reserve High Point Team) 34; University of Massachusetts at Amherst (TIE-Reserve High Point Team) 34; Smith College 27; Hampshire College 25; Amherst College 24; College of the Holy Cross 21; Westfield State College 18; Clark University 13; Williams College 13 and Springfield College 1.

High Point Rider - Tracey Mack, Mount Holyoke College
Reserve High Point Rider - Heather Mrzyglod, Becker College