Nora Crist of Centenary College (left) won the second section of intermediate fences on October 29th while teammate Alison Cozine (right) placed second. Crist would go on to win her intermediate flat class and leave Briarwood Farm with the High Point Rider ribbon.

PACE RALLIES TO TIE CENTENARY FOR THE DAY

Readington, NJ - In what would be the first of two consecutive Sundays during which the entire region would co-host a show at Briarwood Farm, Centenary College came up a winner for the third time in four hunter seat shows, sharing the top spot on this day with Pace University. Both the Cyclones and Setters scored 34 points, with Stevens Institute technically reserve with 29.

Blue ribbons were not scarce for the Cyclones. Sophomore Nora Crist won both her intermediate flat and fences classes while Jennifer Januzis (open flat), Tiffany Neidhardt (same), Genna Centolanza (open fences), Amy Carter (novice flat), Allison Sedlock (novice fences), Molly Brown (same), Darcy Maloney (advanced walk-trot-canter), Erin Evans (same), Annie Coolbaugh (same) and Deborah Hyland (walk-trot) also came up winners for Centenary. The Cyclones could also claim eleven red ribbons over the course of the day.

Incredibly Pace tied Centenary even though only one of the 13 Setters competing in today's show won a class. Hillary Quinn won the third class of the day, taking the blue ribbon in intermediate fences. Nicole Papaioannou (novice flat), Jan Kutscher (novice fences), Danielle King (advanced walk-trot-canter) and Anna Jablonski (walk-trot) were able to earn coveted second-place ribbons for Pace. Though several schools earned more blue ribbons Pace had done perhaps the best job of picking point riders at today's show. The Setters ended the day firmly in second place overall, 20 points ahead of Drew and 33 points behind Centenary.

Bodie the dog gives Stevens Institute freshman Jamie Fishbein a kiss after her second place showing in advanced walk-trot-canter. The Ducks moved into a tie for fifth place overall with Sarah Lawrence, only six behind Army and eight behind Drew.

Stevens Institute had 12 total rides throughout the day, with eleven of them worthy of a placing inside the top six. Kathleen Weatherall lead the way for the Ducks with a first in open fences while Jamie Fishbein was second in her section of advanced walk-trot-canter. Stevens earned 29 points and moved into a tie with Sarah Lawrence for fifth place overall in the Region 1 team standings.

Sarah Lawrence was nearly as good as Stevens, earning 28 points. Chesalon Piccione, a junior from outside of Houston who only recently joined the Sarah Lawrence team won the first section of intermediate flat while freshman teammate Elizabeth Hunter (from Los Angeles) won the second section. Galina Pavel was second in both of her novice classes while Michelle Kern won the red ribbon in walk-trot.

S.U.N.Y. - New Paltz and Vassar College were next with 16 points apiece. Veronica Branca won the lone section of beginner walk-trot-canter on this day for the Hawks while teammate Rachel Modell won the final class of the day which was the fourth section of advanced walk-trot-canter. Vassar did not earn a blue ribbon though Danielle Sporkin was second in the second section of open fences while teammate Rebeccah Judd took the red ribbon in the fourth section of novice fences.

Both Bard College and Drew University scored 15 points, though each probably felt differently about it. For Bard, 15 would be a good day, as only five Raptor riders made the journey from Annandale-on-Hudson. Bethany Richards won her open flat class (her first IHSA blue ribbon) while Caroline Goodman-Thomases was second in her section of intermediate flat. Drew easily had the most blue ribbons of any other team besides Centenary, as Arial Hwang (walk-trot), Rachael Mikelson (novice flat) and Susie Nugent (novice fences) each won once while Kaitlin Natoli, a freshman from Spring, Texas was a winner in both the novice flat and fences. However these strong individual showings did not translate into many points on the scoreboard. The Rangers can still claim to be the only team to defeat Centenary so far this season, having won the Pace show a week earlier by a 38-32 score over the Cyclones.

Pace's Nicole Papaioannou (left) clinched a tie with Centenary for high point team with her second in novice flat during the All-Region show. On the right is Setters teammate Libby Kahl, who was fifth in the same section. Head Coach Lisa Tomaselli (center) earned four points in alumni flat during the afternoon as well.

Rounding out the scoring were the United States Military Academy with 14 points while Manhattanville College scored a point. Corrine Noble earned the lone blue ribbon of the day for Army with a first in walk-trot while Molly Williams earned the lone point of the day for the Valiants with a sixth in intermediate flat.

Short Retirement: Only three weeks earlier alumni legend and Drew Assistant Coach Sandra Sayre had indicated that her days competing in IHSA alumni classes were behind her. Low and behold Sayre could not pass up the opportunity to ride against recent Drew graduates Kristine Kennedy and Gary Hochman, and so out of retirement she went! Since we did not have alumni standings at the time of the show we did not know how things were going for Sayre or any Region 1 alumni. On this day only one section of alumni fences took place, with Kennedy a winner with Centenary alumni rider Amy Gregonis second. However two sections of alumni flat were held, with Gregonis earning the blue and Kennedy the red in the first section and Sayre the blue and Centenary graduate Suzanne Rausa the red that time around (Sayre herself e-mailed us the alumni points ten days later, which included results from the November 5th all-region show. At that point Kennedy had already qualifed for the alumni flat while Gregonis had 26, Sayre 24 and both Pace Head Coach/Virginia Tech graduate Lisa Tomaselli and Army graduate Kelly Dobert both had 20. Over fences Kennedy had 22 while Sayre and Gregonis both had 17. Rausa and Tomaselli were close with 15). Needless to say Sayre appears to be en route to Regionals even without competing in the first show of the season.

The Ride-Off: Region 1 rarely ever holds ride-offs and today was no different. Rather than a coin toss or the drawing of straws, a guessing game requiring each rider to guess a number between one and thirty was used. Natoli took reserve as one of her teammates picked 24 while Crist picked 7 for the blue. The number turned out to be fifteen.

Don't pack your bags for Springfield yet!: Though it is doubtful that Centenary will be denied a trip to Zones for the 18th season in a row, the Cacchione rider race in Region 1 is one of the least predictible, with four riders separated by seven points near the top and perhaps seven others with a chance if the leaders go cold. Holly Fatula of the Cyclones earned a total of seven points to take a five point lead over Neidhardt. Liz Stitzel of Sarah Lawrence and James Fairclough of Drew are seven from the top while a large number of riders have between 20 and 26 points. The rider with the most combined open flat and fences points at the end of the season will automatically advance to IHSA Nationals at the Big E in Western Massachusetts, as the Region 1 representative in the Cacchione Cup Competition. Unlike the past two seasons, when Kennedy led the field at the break and moved further ahead in the second half, this race looks like it will go down to the last day. This is one race that does not often go Centenary's way, as the Cyclones have had the Region 1 Cacchione representative at Nationals only twice since Kelly Anne Taylor won the prestigious cup while riding for Centenary in 1997. Taylor won the Cacchione Cup at Mount Holyoke College, not far from the Big E in Springfield. Could it be Deja Vu all over again?

---Steve Maxwell

Show Incidentals: Sunny skies, with temperatures rising to the upper '50's. Start time: 8:53AM. Finish: 3:55PM - includes 31 minute lunch break/Coaches and Captains meeting. Point cards posted in this region? Yes. Alumni Classes held in this region? Yes. Judge: Abbe Wolfe, Ambler, PA. Stewards: Chappelle/Sarah Lawrence College, Vaughan/Centenary College and P. Cashman/United States Military Academy.

Hunter Seat Team Totals: Pace University (TIE-High Point Team) 34; Centenary College (TIE-High Point Team) 34; Stevens Institute of Technology 29; Sarah Lawrence College 28; Vassar College 16; State University of New York at New Paltz 16; Bard College 15; Drew University 15; United States Military Academy 14 and Manhattanville College 1.

High Point Rider - Nora Crist, Centenary College
Reserve High Point Rider - Kaitlin Natoli, Drew University