SOUTH HADLEY, Mass. -- The Mount Holyoke hunt seat riding team enjoyed an outstanding final home show of the year on Saturday at the MHC Equestrian Center, topping UMass-Amherst by two points to take first place on Senior Day for the Lyons.
Sophomore Grace Neumuth (Marlborough, Conn.) earned Overall High Point Rider and Hight Point Limit honors, heading a list of outstanding performances.
Other awardees included sophomore Eliza Mutz (Stanford, Calif.) as Champion Intermediate Rider; senior Artemis Chen (Suzhou, China) as Reserve Champion Intro Rider; first-year Emi Graf (Belmont, Mass.) as Limit Reserve Champion Rider; senior Zhuohan Shen (Shanghai, China) as Champion Intro Rider; and first-year Bessie Huggins (Berkeley Heights, N.J.) as Champion Novice Rider.
Qualifying for Regionals this spring were senior Mads Hurley (Portland, Maine) in Limit Fences and Chen in Introductory.
Mount Holyoke's 37 points led all nine teams competing. UMass-Amherst followed with 35 points and Bentley was third with 33.
Senior Cate Bates (Montclair, N.J.) was the first rider in the ring. She earned second place aboard Ivan in Open Fences A. Senior captain Camille Cheng (Goleta, Calif.) followed in Open Fences B, earning a first place ribbon aboard Lilly.
In Section A of Intermediate Fences, Mutz finished third on Whinny, and sophomore Carly Bitler (Seymour, Ill.) seventh on Walter. Sophomore Montserrat Hartwig (Santa Rosa, Calif.) finished second on Lilly in Intermediate Fences Section B.
There were four sections of Limit Fences. Starting off was senior Dekyi Deji (Beijing, China) riding Cappy to a fourth place finish. In Section B, senior Kate Smith (Wells, Vt.) debuted in Limit Fences on Bubbles for fifth, finishing just behind senior True Usiatynski (Fayetteville, N.Y.) on Tex in fourth. In Section C, senior Mara Downie (Holyoke, Mass.) placed third on Bubbles, and Neumuth was first on Cappy in her Limit debut. And in Section D, Hurley was third aboard Reggie and Graf first aboard Ronaldo.
At the conclusion of our jumping classes, the ring was cleared for the Senior Ceremony. Seniors from every team in our region received flowers presented by their respective coaches.
Chen was MHC's first rider after the break, finishing first in Introductory Section A, and earning enough points to qualify for regionals. In Section B, first-year Lucy Lu (Shanghai, China) made her horse showing debut, finishing second, and sophomore Anna Ji (Shanghai, China) in fourth. Shen finished first in Section C.
Cheng and Bates returned to the ring for Open Flat, earning fourth and second place respectively. Then, Hurley made their Intermediate flat debut, earning fourth. Mutz rode next in Intermediate Flat B, bringing home the blue ribbon.
In the first Novice class, sophomore Christine Niu (East Windsor, N.J.) finished fourth, and Huggins first. In section B, sophomore Sabella Riccio (Jersey City, N.J.) was sixth and sophomore Maya Bomhardt (Glenwood, Md.) made her IHSA debut finishing fifth. Next, first-year Nicole Richards (Middletown, R.I.) earned fifth place in Section C of Novice.
In the first of the Limit Flat classes, Graf earned a fourth place ribbon and Neumuth earned her second blue ribbon of the day. Downie returned in Limit Section B to finish fourth, and Smith won Section C. MHC's final rider of the day, senior Megan Bliamptis (Lexington, Mass.), made her Pre-Novice debut one to remember, winning her class.
The Lyons return to action almost immediately, competing at the UMass-Amherst Show on Sunday at Muddy Brook Farm.
-- Reporting by Cate Bates
