Section "C" of intermediate flat was very good to Centenary College. From left to right are Suzanne Rausa, Carrie Nass, Kate Mahland and Deana Ingrasselino, who placed fourth to first respectively in this section.

CENTENARY ROMPS, RIDING THEIR BEST AFTER LUNCH BREAK

Readington, NJ - They won seven of seventeen classes before the lunch break. They won eight of fifteen after. The Centenary cyclones won for the second week in a row, posting a season-high 44 points, ten better than reserve high point team USMA. High point rider honors went to novice riders Tiffany Neidhardt and Kelly Balk, each of whom won a pair of novice classes (The actual high point ribbon went to Neidhardt by virtue of a coin toss). Balk, a sophomore from Eldersburg, Maryland was riding Novice for the first time, having pointed out of advanced walk-trot-canter last weekend.

Also winning blue ribbons on this day for Centenary were Amy Gregonis (open fences), Ashley DiBongrazio (open flat), Alison Cozine (intermediate flat), Deana Ingrasselino (same), Ethan Smock (same), Sarah Paull (novice flat), Simone Shaheen (advanced walk-trot-canter), Katie Nagle (same), Christine Jordan (same), Kelly Adair (same) and Christina Maher (walk-trot). It is also worth noting that Centenary won eleven second place ribbons and that after the lunch break the Cyclones did not have riders in four classes, meaning they won eight of twelve in which they had a chance!

Runner-up was the United States Military Academy with 34 points. The black knights were led by open rider Jared Marinos, who was first over fences and second on the flat. Josh Sands (advanced walk-trot-canter), Amber Kurkowski (beginner walk-trot-canter) and Brittany Ladner (walk-trot) also won classes for USMA. Six Army riders also earned second place ribbons. The showing was twice as good as at the Columbia show eight days earlier, when USMA posted 17 points.

Third place went to Drew University, so far the reserve high point team in Region 1 through two shows. The rangers have proved to be very consistant, with 31 points at the first show and 29 today. Open rider Kristine Kennedy was first in open flat and third in open fences, giving her a two point lead over Centenary's Tim Leuzarder in the Region 1 Open Rider Standings. Tori Frederick won her intermediate flat class while Kate Baer's third in intermediate fences took her over 35 points in the division meaning she will compete in open jumping her next time out.

Others with blue ribbons on this day were Ashley Casselman (intermediate fences) and Elizabeth Weiderseim (novice flat) of New York University; Sarah Kaufmann (intermediate fences) of Sarah Lawrence; Elizabeth Cunningham (open flat) and Virginia Benda (beginner walk-trot-canter) of S.U.N.Y. - New Paltz; Sarah Nir (intermediate fences) of Columbia; Caroline Pelletier (beginner walk-trot-canter) of Marist; Pauline Irungu (walk-trot) of Stevens Institute and Danielle Sporkin (intermediate fences), Jake Goodhart (novice fences) and Lydia Sisson (same) of Vassar. Sporkin was riding in her first IHSA class when she won the second of four sections of intermediate fences.

Stevens off to big start: They did not field a team in 2000-01 or 2001-02. In 2002-03 they scored a total of 29 points for the entire season. Last year they scored 73 points from September to March. Maybe it is the arrival of open rider Kathleen Weatherall and intermediate rider Kerri Rettig to fill four divisions, or maybe it is the arrival of Assistant Coach Alecea Amburn, who rode for a James Madison team that went from non-existence to the top three in Zone 4, Region 2 in only two seasons. Whatever the reasons may be, Patti Zwaan's Stevens Institute team has 51 points through two shows, good enough for a third place tie with USMA overall. Like Drew, the ducks have proven to be consistant (25 points at Columbia; 26 at Drew/Sarah Lawrence) and should they put 23 or more points on the board at USMA, Stevens will set a new single-season record for points. The ducks will likely keep adding to that record, perhaps even tripling it!

Start saving for the future: We at Campus Equestrian get requests for photos, but at today's show one parent asked if we could print out a page that was on line last spring. Unfortunatly, that particular page was not saved in our server. However Campus Equestrian has since begun saving the Region, Zone and Home Pages we post, so if you see your picture on one of those pages, then see it change and want it printed out again we are able to re-create it.

Buy stock in Revlon?!: Kristine Kennedy is good friends with Lafayette College open rider Erin Githens. Kennedy has also had a habit of wearing blue nail polish, and recently a bottle went missing at the farm where both Kennedy and Githens practice. By coincidence, the Lafayette team is off to their best start in Zone 3, Region 4 in 15 years, and sporting blue nail polish nonetheless! "I am the reason Lafayette is winning," says Kennedy. "14 Riders. That's 140 Nails!" Though they may have gotten the idea from Kennedy, the Lafayette riders limit the polish to their left thumbnail, so there may be some left over if she needs the bottle back! Incidentally Githens was undefeated over open fences through two shows, having earned one more blue ribbon in the division than all of last season.

Present Arms: The United States Military Academy will host the first-ever All-Service Academy Horse Show at Morgan Farm in Highland Falls, New York at 3:00PM on Friday, November 5th, with Lisa Harrell judging. The show will be a three-way competition between Army, Navy and Air Force. USMA Coach Peter Cashman says that Air Force was flying in for a Football game with Army the next day, so the equestrian team was allowed to tag along. Until the second half of last season, the United States Naval Academy did not have an equestrian team. This changed when Tina Struble of Navy spent the fall 2003 semester at West Point, which led her to start the Navy team (with the help of Cashman and University of Maryland Head Coach Emmie Prettyman) last spring. Though the Air Force may know something about getting up over 3'6" we still think Army will win the exhibition.

No room for alumni: There were no alumni classes at today's show, which was due to the number of rides needed by the schools. The teams in Zone 2, Region 1 are getting larger and larger, and any kind of limit on riders will have an impact as to getting riders into shows and conversely limit the number of riders who ultimately go to Regionals. There were roughly 240 rides at today's show, with most classes having eight competitors. Alumni was held at the Columbia show on October 2nd, and Alumni are expected to be part of the October 31st show at Briarwood hosted by USMA.

---Steve Maxwell

Show Incidentals: Sunny skies, temperatures in the mid '60's. Start time: 8:46AM. Finish: 3:39PM - includes 2 breaks totalling 48 minutes. Point cards posted in this region? Yes. Alumni Classes held in this region? Yes. Judge: Carole Molony, Stamford, Connecticut. Stewards: S. Cashman/United States Military Academy, Zwaan/Stevens Institute of Technology and third steward unknown.

Hunter Seat Team Totals: Centenary College (High Point Team) 44; United States Military Academy (Reserve) 34; Drew University 29; New York University 29; Stevens Institute of Technology 26; Vassar College 24; Columbia University 20; Pace University 20; Marist College 16; Sarah Lawrence College 16; State University of New York at New Paltz 8; Manhattanville College 2 and College of Saint Elizabeth 1.

High Point Rider - Tiffany Neidhardt, Centenary College.
Reserve High Point Rider - Kelly Balk, Centenary College.