On December 8th the entire St. Lawrence team was busy running their horse show, including open rider Dorrie Douglas (holding "Clark" here). The junior from West Bridgewater, Massachusetts was one of two Saints riders to win twice and even won the ride-off for high point.

ST. LAWRENCE SCORES 46 AT HOME TO WIN; ALFRED SCORES SCHOOL RECORD 42 FOR RESERVE

Canton, NY - Since the fall of 2000 when nearly a dozen schools including frequent region champion Skidmore College were split off to form Zone 2, Region 3 the yearly race for Region 2 high point hunter seat team is one of the more interesting to follow nationwide. This is because both Cazenovia College and St. Lawrence University often are neck-and-neck down to the wire. Last season Cazenovia clinched the region in the next-to-last class of the final show. Either Cazenovia or St. Lawrence has won the region every season since 2000-01, with the other always the runner-up. The top team in this region has ALWAYS survived Zone 2 Zones, and has gone on to fair very well at IHSA Nationals (St. Lawrence was Reserve National Champion in 2001 while Cazenovia took the honor one year later). Last season Cazenovia was one of only five schools to score in double digits at 2007 IHSA Nationals in West Springfield, Massachusetts.

(Correction: In 2004-05 Syracuse University became to date the only team other than St. Lawrence or Cazenovia to finish second overall in Region 2 this decade. Syracuse edged Cazenovia 242-240 for the season, with St. Lawrence the Region Champion with 278 - Editor.)

Due to spring scheduling conflicts Region 2 held six of their eight regular season hunter seat shows in the fall, and through five of them the team race was as you might expect. Caz won the opener hosted by RIT 39-38 over St. Lawrence. The next day Geneseo hosted, with the Saints winning 41-33 over Cazenovia though Syracuse was actually reserve with 34. A second weekend of back-to-backs at Lehman Farm produced a 43-36 win for Cazenovia on the first day, creating a temporary tie for the top spot (Alfred was actually reserve with 37), while on day two St. Lawrence ran the table to earn a perfect 49 score and move ten points ahead of the Wildcats (Nazareth tied Cazenovia for reserve that day). Fresh off a perfect score the Saints' lead shrunk slightly on December 1st, as the Saints were beaten by the host Wildcats in a wild, 45-43 slugfest. Through five shows St. Lawrence led Cazenovia 207-199 with Nazareth College third at 154.

Nazareth College Head Coach Terese Bouchard (right) and Assistant Coach Kelly Nyhan (left) pose with Nicole "Niki" Paris after her first in intermediate fences. A junior from Victor, New York, Paris is already qualified for Regionals in both novice divisions. Nazareth tied Ottawa for fourth with 29 points at today's show and are tied for fourth overall at 183 points with Syracuse through six shows.

One thing that appeared to favor the Saints entering today's show was the remainder of the schedule. The first four shows had been at Lehman Farm in Pittsford, a semi-neutral site while the fifth show was hosted by Cazenovia, essentially a Wildcat home game. Two of the remaining three shows, including today's contest, would be hosted by St. Lawrence. The Saints have scored 49 points in their own Elsa Gunnison Appleton Riding Hall on more than one occassion since 2000, and even though the entire team must handle a myriad of tasks aside from just riding it seems the Saints are most relaxed here.

One of St. Lawrence's strengths in recent years has been the consistancy of their open riders. Entering today's show the Saints could claim three of the region's top four open riders, including the region leader in Dorrie Douglas. Listed in today's program by her proper first name of "Dorothy," the junior from West Bridgewater, Massachusetts won the first open fences class to start the day. St. Lawrence senior and defending Region 2 high point open rider Brittan White won the second section while junior Katherine Hankin was third in the third section. The only non-St. Lawrence rider to win over the open fences was Nazareth junior Alex Carbonaro. From Rochester, New York Carbonaro would later place second in open flat and finish the day sixth in the Region 2 open rider standings, with the most open points of any rider not competing for St. Lawrence or Cazenovia.

Three sections of intermediate fences followed, with neither of the "Big Two" able to snare a blue ribbon. Nazareth won the first section, via junior Niki Paris. Alfred senior Caitlin Hartman, who was second at 2007 IHSA Nationals in the individual advanced walk-trot-canter and who has already pointed out of both novice divisions this season, was second to Paris. Syracuse sophomore Charlotte Kramer, who has already pointed out of intermediate flat, won the second section while Gillian Knapp of SUNY-Geneseo was the red-ribbon winner. The University of Ottawa was the only one of four Region 2 Canadian schools to compete at today's show, and second year rider Kaitlin Smith would be the first rider from across Lake Ontario to earn a blue ribbon. From the city of Ottawa itself, Smith won the third section, finishing one place higher than Kate Marshall of SUNY-Geneseo. Ottawa had alredy received a second via open rider Amanda Taylor, who had pinned between Carbonaro and Hankin.

We are not sure which of the two were responsible, but Syracuse earned five points in the intermediate flat thanks to one of the Freiburger sisters. Freshman Kristen Freiburger (right) was second in section A while junior Erica (left) was second in section C. Syracuse finished the day with the third-best score, 34 points.

After neither school earned more than a third in intermediate fences, one might expect either St. Lawrence or Cazenovia would start to heat up over novice fences. However schools within the city of Rochester would combine to do a better job over novice fences than either the Saints or Wildcats. Brittany Vena, a University of Rochester senior from Chula Vista, California who already qualified for Regionals in novice flat proceeded to win the first of four sections of novice fences. Runner-up was Rochester Institute of Technology sophomore Katie Anderson. The University of Rochester made it two in a row as Risa Bernstein won the next section, with Alfred's Barbara Kozlol capturing the red ribbon. The University of Rochester had to settle for second in the third section, as Elizabeth Arthur finished one place behind Corey Urtel of Alfred University. Urtel only pointed out of the advanced walk-trot-canter three shows earlier. Neither Rochester school had a rider in the fourth section of novice fences, giving everyone else a chance! Sarah Fricano delivered SUNY-Oswego's only blue ribbon of the day with a first. The sophomore from Syracuse, New York would later place third in novice flat. Runner up in the final jumping class of the day was Liz Graves of Cazenovia, who elevated Cazenovia's red ribbon total to two. Junior Barbie Lanigan had finished second to White in open fences earlier. One thing that was certain through three divisions: No one was going to score 49 points at today's show.

Following the removal of jumps and a short schooling break which coincided with the Coaches & Captains meeting the open flat kicked off the afternoon session. In total contrast to the previous two divisions, St. Lawrence reverted to form, earning firsts in each of the three sections of open flat. White won the first section (with Lanigan again second) while Hankin edged out Kramer in section B and Douglas a placing better than Carbonaro in section C. A fences specialist at times in past seasons, Douglas had made the ride-off as had White. The question at the moment was if anyone would join them.

St. Lawrence continued to win at the intermediate level. Alyce Simons, who did not compete over fences at today's show won the first section of intermediate flat while Holly Davis won the third. Both St. Lawrence intermediate flat winners had the distinction of finishing one place higher than the Freiburger sisters! Freshman Kristen Freiburger was second to Simons while older sister Erica was second to Davis. One of the two gave Syracuse five points on what would turn out to be the second best day of the season so far for the Orange. St. Lawrence might have won six classes in a row, save for the fact that no Saint rider was entered in section B. Knapp was again a red ribbon winner, while Hartman was the first flat rider of the day not from St. Lawrence to prevail. The senior from Herietta, New York had kept Alfred in a position to actually win the show outright.

Just schedule the Regional show and they will be there! The University of Rochester's Brittany Vena (left) is qualified in novice flat. Teammate Nadia Byrnes (right) is qualified in novice fences, and on this day Risa Bernstein (center) joined them by way of a second in novice flat. The Yellowjackets scored 20 points at today's show, six more than at any of the previous shows this season.

Novice flat was divided into five sections, and though only two featured a St. Lawrence rider the one who was pointed took care of business. Freshman Hadley Deming, whose older sister Esther rode for the Saints the past four seasons, won the first section of novice flat, coming in one place higher than Cazenovia freshman Paige Brady. Kozlol won the second section, again boosting Alfred's total. Ottawa earned another second via Laurence Roy-Rousseau, who entering the day was one of two GiGi riders already qualified for Regionals. Amyrose Lomele won the third section, giving SUNY-Geneseo what turned out to be their only blue ribbon of the day. Jen Hussey became the fourth Orange rider of the day with a red ribbon as Syracuse still had a shot at high point team honors. Graves improved one placing on her novice fences round while Nazareth's Vicky Pape was second in section D of novice flat. With Fricano third the ride-off was now set as a two-way St. Lawrence match-up. The final novice flat class was won by another Nazareth rider, Marie Halfman, while the University of Rochester saw Bernstein point up with a second. From Underhill, Vermont, Bernstein was the sixth and final rider on this day to earn a first and a second.

On many ocassions Bernstein, Hartman, Graves, et.al. would have been involved in a ride-off for at least reserve with such a day, but only White and Douglas went two-for-two. Judge Monica Hunt did not ask for the usual walk-trot-walk-canter-reverse et.al. when the ride-off took place. To the delight of this writer Hunt asked for the counter-canter in place of the canter, with a transition to the sitting trot. Then Hunt threw everyone for a loop by asking for the counter-canter in the opposite direction, then to change direction at the canter exhibiting a flying lead change!! The highlight of this ride-off was when White changed leads, flying through the middle of the ring in such a way a small crossrail would have been easily cleared. However in spite of her eye-popping flying lead change White did not win. Douglas was the final high point rider at any 2007 IHSA show, with none of the 31 IHSA regions holding another competition until next month.

Seen here with "Luna," Laurence Roy-Rousseau of Ottawa was second in her novice flat class. The GiGis tied Nazareth for fourth at today's show with 29 points, also their high total so far in 2007-08.

The walk-trot-canter was technically six sections, though only four were advanced while the final two were beginner. Five schools won blue ribbons across the six sections, with the rich getting richer. Michelle Flannery of Alfred was the first to leave the ring with a blue advanced WTC ribbon, while Rochester Institute of Technology freshman Allison Hettinger was second. Jessica Sweeney of St. Lawrence won the second section. The junior from Stone Ridge, New York is also the St. Lawrence team captain, and her ribbon here may have also counted on the point card. Alicia Pickett-Hale delivered another red ribbon to Alfred with a second. So far two of the three SUNY schools had a blue ribbon; SUNY-Potsdam came close when Megan Healey finished second to Douglas in the very first class of the day and finally joined the hit parade as Nicole Benjamin won. a senior from Sodus Point, New York, Benjamin also pointed out with the win. Second in the third section of advanced walk-trot-canter was EnaeRay Sprittggs of SUNY-Oswego (is this a typo? Her last name was spelled this way in the program so our apologies if we are off by a letter or two). If Captain Sweeney was not pointed then freshman Mallory Roberts must have been, for she won the fourth section assuring St. Lawrence of no worse than second place for the day. Alfred blocked points for the umpteenth time as Kelsey Coggolia was second. Each section of beginner walk-trot-canter was made up of five riders (most of the others were made up of six to eight riders), with Cazenovia freshman Ashley Legg a winner in the first section. Emily Loeb was second for the University of Rochester, now done for the day by virtue of no walk-trot rider but still leaving the Riding Hall with a season-best 20 points. Syracuse earned their final blue ribbon of the day as freshman Sara Turbett won the final section of beginner walk-trot-canter. Whitney Dennis was second in the class for SUNY-Geneseo.

A pair of Walk-Trot classes concluded the proceedings. Though their inability to make the top two in either novice or intermediate fences kept them from a perfect score, the Saints didn't miss that mark by much, as Nick Dephteros won the first walk-trot class to give St. Lawrence 46 points and high point team honors. Nazareth sophomore Caitlin Malone was second to close out the Golden Flyers scoring with 29 points. The final IHSA class of calendar year 2007 was won by Danielle Munson of Alfred. Munson's first gave Alfred six blue ribbons, with five of the six blue ribbon-winners having been pointed. Elizabeth Gorn of Syracuse was second, giving the Orange their fifth red ribbon and clinching third place for the day with 34 points.

Though Danielle Munson (second on left) may have blinked she walked and trotted just fine in the final class of the day for Alfred. Munson's first helped the Saxons scored a school record 42 points not to mention Reserve High Point Team honors for the day. Head Coach Leigh Fischer (center) and Assistant Coach Mandy Herrmann (far left) have Alfred in third place overall with two shows still to come in the spring.

Though St. Lawrence won (somewhat unsurprisingly considering their track record at home), Alfred was really the big surprise, as the Saxons' 42-point total is their all-time school record. The school from Alfred, New York ended the fall portion of the Region 2 show schedule with 189 points, six more than Nazareth and Syracuse, and in sole possession of third place. The Alfred program was not born yesterday; For better than 25 years Becky Backer coached the Saxons to varying degrees of success in what was a brutally tough region in the days when Skidmore, Cornell and others caused the number of Region 2 schools to swell well over 20. Head Coach Leigh Fischer and Assistant Coach Mandy Herrmann can take heart in that one of the college-combine organizers (who shall be nameless) is often asked about the Alfred riding program of late. With three scores in the upper 30's or higher over the past four shows the Saxon's future looks bright indeed.

Following Nazareth and Ottawa with 29 points each was Cazenovia. This quite simply was an off-day for the Wildcats, who had scored at least 33 and save for the Geneseo show scored 39 or more up until the drive to Canton. The Wildcats scored 27 on this day, digging a hole that might be difficult to climb out of if they want to repeat as Region Champions. Cazenovia hosts the next show on March 1st, while a day later everyone drives to Canton again for the second St. Lawrence show of 2007-08. The Wildcats need to hit the mid-40's each of those two shows and hope St. Lawrence slumps unexpectedly. Otherwise the Saints will do what has been commonplace in Region 2 this decade: Break someone's one-year Region Champion win streak!

Alumni get three month vacation: Three months will pass between Cazenovia shows on December 1st and March 1st. The Region 2 will likely compete in both of those shows but were not present for today's show. 2007 SUNY-Potsdam graduate Craig Worboys has the best shot of going to Regionals, as he leads the alumni flat with 18 points and the alumni fences with 15.

On the road early: Every so often you will see a judge who places everyone in a timely fashion. Judge Hunt placed 19 flat classes and the ride-off in two hours and 27 minutes. There was also a false-start when one class had to be stopped halfway through to switch out one of the horses. This was easily the fastest-run group of flat classes this writer has seen in a few seasons.

--Steve Maxwell

Show Incidentals: Partly cloudy skies, with snow flurries and temperatures in the low 30's. Entire show held indoors in a heated facility. Start time: 9:00AM. Finish: 2:55PM - includes 40 minute lunch break/Coaches & Captains meeting. Point cards posted in this region? Yes. Alumni Classes held in this region? Yes but not on this day. Judge: Monica Hunt. Stewards: Sanford/State University of New York at Geneseo, Bouchard/Nazareth College and Van Patten/Syracuse University.

Team Totals: St. Lawrence University (High Point Team) 46; Alfred University (Reserve) 42; Syracuse University 34; Nazareth College 29; University of Ottawa 29; Cazenovia College 27; State University of New York at Geneseo 25; University of Rochester 20; State University of New York at Potsdam 18; State University of New York at Oswego 16 and Rochester Institute of Technology 5.

High Point Rider - Dorrie Douglas, St. Lawrence University
Reserve High Point Rider - Brittan White, St. Lawrence University