10 Lyons qualify for Zones as equestrian dominate Region Championship Show

STERLING, Mass. -- The Mount Holyoke College hunt seat riding team put on an outstanding show at Zone I Region 3 Championships, held Sunday at Windstar Farm, finishing the day as region champions. The Lyons move on to compete not only as a team at the Zone I Championships, to be held April 4 at Mount Holyoke, but with a slew of individual qualifiers as well.

Regionals is an individuals only show, while all of MHC's riders represented Mount Holyoke, there are no team points. To qualify for this show, riders must accumulate 36 (or 28 in Open) points during regular season competition in a division to "point out." Once pointed out, they show in the next division up, but compete at Regionals for the division they pointed out of. The top two individuals in each class at Regionals make it on to Zones.

First in the ring was senior Hallie Phillips (Santa Rosa, Calif.) in Open Fences. Hallie laid down a lovely round to win the class and punched her ticket to Zones. Phillips went back into the ring for Open Fences and finished third.

Next was Intermediate Fences: Sophomore Emi Graf (Belmont, Mass.) placed 1st, earning a spot at Zones. Junior Eliza Mutz (Stanford, Calif.) placed third.

In Limit Fences: First-year Sophia Bull (Lumberton, N.J.) placed second, moving on to Zones. Senior Charlotte Subak (Brooklyn, N.Y.) placed third, and senior captain Charlie May (Stockton, N.J.) placed fifth.

Two sections of Intermediate Flat went into the ring, and both of MHC's riders made the call back: Subak topped the class after a competitive test, moving on to Zones, and Mutz placed fifth.

After two sections of Limit Flat, senior Kate Smith (Wells, Vt.), junior Grace Neumuth (Marlborough, Conn.), and Graf were the top three riders in the class and tested. Graf placed first, her second blue ribbon of the day, earning yet another spot at Zones. Neumuth placed second, moving on to Zones, and Kate Smith placed third. Charlie May finished just outside the ribbons.

Novice was the biggest class of the day. 21 riders rode in three heats, with the top six being called back to ride again:

Senior Lila Hancock (Morrisville, Vt.) finished just outside the ribbons.
Junior Lainey Nibbio (Glen Ellyn, Ill.) placed first, earning a spot at Zones.
Sophomore Az Reading (San Luis Obispo, Calif.) finished just outside the ribbons.
Sophomore Bessie Huggins (Berkeley Heights, N.J.) placed second, earning a spot at Zones.
Junior Sabella Riccio (Jersey City, N.J.) placed third.
Senior Nora Tripp (Westford, Mass.) finished just outside the ribbons.

For the last, but definitely not least, class of the day, Introductory went into the ring. Senior Kenny Yang (Jiangsu, China) placed first, earning a spot at Zones. Senior Lia Liang (Beijing, China) placed second, also earning a spot at Zones.

For the end-of-season awards:

Hallie Phillips placed Reserve High Point Rider for both fences and flat, and ended second in Cacchione Cup standings.
Grace Neumuth was awarded the Region 1 Sportsmanship Award.
Mount Holyoke was officially named the Zone I Region 3 Champions.

2025-2026 Team Standings:

Champion: Mount Holyoke College
Reserve: University of Massachusetts Amherst
3rd: Amherst College
4th: Bentley University
5th: Smith College
6th: Springfield College
7th: Worcester Polytechnic Institute
8th: Worcester State University
9th: Trinity College
10th: Williams College
11th: Westfield State University

2025-26 Cacchione Cup Standings