Cazenovia's Jackie Miller was high point rider at the March 6th Cazenovia Show. Miller won a pair of intermediate classes and a ride-off versus two others.

CAZENOVIA WINS FINALE WHILE ST. LAWRENCE CAPTURES REGION

Cazenovia, NY - Led by Open Rider Megan Cowen and Intermediate Rider Jackie Miller, Cazenovia College scored 45 points in the final Region 2 Regular Season Hunter Seat Show of 2004-05. The wildcats won eleven blue ribbons, including two each for Cowen and Miller. Cowen, a senior from Land-o-Lakes, Florida, moved into a tie for high point open rider with Rachael Ragozzino of St. Lawrence, both of whom finished the season with 71 points. The wildcats total of 45 was their highest score of the season.

However second place St. Lawrence University, with 39 points, wrapped up the Region 2 Hunter Seat Region Championship. Ragozzino, a junior from Guilderland, New York won her section of open fences while Brittan White (open flat), Marrielle Van Rossum (same), Hannah Stonefield (intermediate fences), Liz McCormick (novice flat) and Carolyn Griffin (beginner walk-trot-canter) also won blue ribbons for the saints. By virtue of their 47-point performance a day earlier, St. Lawrence had built up a 27-point lead on Syracuse and wound up winning the region by 36 over the orange and 38 over Cazenovia. St. Lawrence will take a full team to Zone 2 Zones April 9th in Saratoga Springs, New York while Ragozzino and Cowen will ride off at Regionals April 2nd at Cazenovia for the right to represent the region at IHSA Nationals in the Cacchione Cup Competition May 5th through 8th in the Columbus, Ohio suburb of Sunbury.

It was a long weekend for everyone involved. St. Lawrence hosted on Saturday, in the 'toasty' Elsa Gunnison Appleton Riding Hall. Led by Ragozzino and White, both of whom won a pair of open classes, St. Lawrence won by 13 over S.U.N.Y. - Potsdam.

Though the saints had a safe 27 point lead going into Sunday's show, the open rider race remained a three-way battle. Katie Hauss, a Syracuse sophomore from Winnetka, California came close but would finish four behind Cowen and Ragozzino for the big prize. Bolstered by a very large and very talented group of open riders, Syracuse spent all but the first 24 hours of the season in either first or second place. The orange scored 33 at St. Lawrence and 30 at Cazenovia this weekend. At the Caz show, blue ribbons were awarded to Regina Young (open fences), Brittany Leader (novice fences), Christine Mitchell (both novice divisions) and Kerry Ryan (novice flat). Congratulations are in order for Head Coach Denise Van Patten, as her orange team did what no prior Syracuse team had ever done: They finished above third place, claiming Reserve honors for the season with 242 points, 15 more than the previous Syracuse team record of 227 in 2002-03.

Cazenovia nearly caught Syracuse but finished third with 240 points. Other wildcat riders with blue ribbons at Sunday's show were Niki Snyder (open fences), Jesse Vanucci (intermediate fences), Lindsey Urbanski (intermediate flat), Elizabeth Bracken (same), Jenny Austin (novice fences), Holly Bachor (advanced walk-trot-canter) and Ashley McVeigh (same). Sunday's three-way ride-off between Cowen (an open rider), Miller (intermediate) and Mitchell (novice) went to Miller, a freshman from Vernon, New York.

St. Lawrence open riders Marrielle Van Rossum (left) and Brittan White (right) cleaned up over the March 5th/6th weekend. Van Rossum won both of her open flat classes (giving her six blue ribbons in seven tries within the division this season) while White won three blue ribbons, one red ribbon and won a ride-off versus teammate Rachael Ragozzino to earn high point rider honors on March 5th.

The State University of New York at Potsdam finished fourth overall for the second season in a row. However their point total jumped from 187 to 209 despite one less show in 2003-04. Though Craig Worboy's first in advanced walk-trot-canter was their only blue ribbon on Sunday, the bears won three blues on Saturday, two of which went to novice rider Stephanie Harding, who was part of the ride-off at St. Lawrence. Potsdam scored 34 and 24 points, respectively over the weekend.

Nazareth College was one of the few schools which performed better at Cazenovia than at St. Lawrence. Held to only 19 points in Canton, the golden flyers scored 34 at Cazenovia, finishing third for the day. Leann Hall (advanced walk-trot-canter) and Rama Gecas (walk-trot) won blue ribbons for Nazareth. Two other golden flyer riders won reserve ribbons.

All three Region 2 Canadian Schools took part in both shows over the weekend. This was in contrast to the fall when only twice in five meets did University of Ottawa, University of Guelph and Trent University all participate.

Guelph had the best weekend overall, though Trent picked up the highest one-day score of any Canadian Team this season when they posted 28 points at St. Lawrence. Danielle Street's first in novice fences at the St. Lawrence Show was the only blue ribbon for Trent over the weekend. Guelph scored 23 on Saturday and 17 on Sunday. Katie Bowles won her intermediate flat class Saturday while Krysten Norton won walk-trot on Sunday. Ottawa did slightly better at Cazenovia, having scored 18 at St. Lawrence before heading down Interstate 81 to Caz to score 20. Lindsey Weatherhead earned the lone blue ribbon of the weekend for the Gi-Gi's, coming out on top in novice flat on day two.

Canisius College made their IHSA debut at Sunday's show. Head Coach Elizabeth McNabb poses between Christine Bigaj (left, who won the first-ever Canisius ribbon with a fourth in novice fences) and Alyssa Pollinger (right, who won the griffs' first blue ribbon two novice fences classes later).

Griffs make IHSA debut: Canisius College, which signed up to be a member of the IHSA during the fall, made their IHSA debut with a fourteen-point performance at Cazenovia. Though they are still looking for open and intermediate riders, the griffs were impressive from the novice level down. Freshman novice rider Christine Bigaj (pronounced "Bee-Guy") was the first to ride, and placed fourth in novice fences. Two classes later, another freshman novice rider, in this case Alyssa Pollinger, beat out nine others to win the fourth of four sections of novice fences. From Orchard Park, New York (where the Buffalo Bills play their home football games), Pollinger can claim the first blue ribbon in Canisius history.

Other riders with blue ribbons at the Cazenovia Show were Casey Myers (novice flat) of the University of Rochester and Andrea Nagle (open fences), Casey Burke (advanced walk-trot-canter) and Amy Sharp (beginner walk-trot-canter) of S.U.N.Y. - Oswego, who from now on will be known as Oswego State University. The lakers were the most consistant team over the weekend, scoring 30 on Saturday and 29 on Sunday. Oswego finished the season in a logjam within the team standings, as S.U.N.Y. - Geneseo (183), the lakers (177), Nazareth (172) and Alfred (171) were separated by 12 points.

Whose side is she on?: Cazenovia graduate Kelly Nyhan was already qualified for Regionals in both alumni divisions before the weekend started, so she opted to compete only in the Cazenovia show. Nyhan won both alumni classes but momentarily confused this writer by wearing a Nazareth jacket! Nyhan is now an Assistant Coach to Terese Bouchard with the golden flyers. Nyhan finished the season with exactly 35 points in each division. R.I.T. graduate Joanna Prescott and Nazareth alum Kathy Feasel both qualifed in alumni flat while we thought we heard Kelley Pfromm had done the same in alumni fences. Pfromm, the founder of the Nazareth Team, also has a shot to qualify in both alumni western divisions.

Looking ahead: Though most in attendance were done until next season, riders who qualified for Regionals will be back at Cazenovia on Saturday, April 2nd to attempt to extend their seasons. The bonus will be the ride-off between Cowen and Ragozzino for the right to compete at Nationals for the Cacchione Cup. Those who finish in the top three in individual classes will travel to Skidmore College a week later to ride at Zone 2 Zones. St. Lawrence will have a full team in Saratoga Springs, New York on April 9th, and if things hold up in Regions 1 and 3, the saints will face Centenary College and Skidmore in the team competition. The top two riders in each individual class (there will be nine riders in most of these classes) and the top two teams in the team competition will advance to IHSA Nationals. Since the process of eliminating the third place Zone 2 Zones team started in April of 2001, the team representing Region 2 at Zones has survived all four times. The 2001 St. Lawrence Saints (and the 2002 Cazenovia Wildcats) went on to place second in the Nation at Nationals. Find some wood to knock on and mark your calendar, April 2nd - Regionals, April 9th - Zones and May 5th through 8th - Nationals!

--Steve Maxwell

3/6 Show Incidentals: Mostly Cloudy, with Snow flurries. Temperature in the mid 30's. Entire show held indoors. Start time: 9:06AM. Finish: 5:14PM - includes 70 minute lunch break/coaches & captains meeting and separate schooling breaks totaling 40 minutes. Point cards posted in this region? Yes. Alumni Classes held in this region? Yes. Judge: Todd Karn. Stewards: Backer/Alfred University, Drueding/St. Lawrence University and Miller/Rochester Institute of Technology.

Team Totals: Cazenovia College (Hight Point Team) 45; St. Lawrence University (Reserve) 39; Nazareth College 34; Alfred University 30; Syracuse University 30; State University of New York at Oswego 29; State University of New York at Potsdam 24; Rochester Institute of Technology 21; University of Ottawa 20; University of Guelph 17; State University of New York at Geneseo 16; Canisius College 14; Trent University 7 and University of Rochester 4.

High Point Rider - Jackie Miller, Cazenovia College
Reserve High Point Rider - Megan Cowen, Cazenovia College