Last Saturday, the equestrian team finished fourth out of five teams competing at the Zone 3 Finals at Centenary University.
“We managed to beat Penn State this year, and they went to nationals last year so we were pretty happy with our rides,” senior club president Maggie Sigmond-Warner said. “We were up against the other regional champion colleges from our zone, and everyone was insanely talented. While we had some amazing rises, everyone at this level is also having amazing rides.”
Junior Grace McEneaney competed in open fences both individually and for the team, placing fourth and third, respectively. McEneaney also competed in fences in the Cacchione Cup qualifier class against other regional High Point Champion riders, placing fourth. She narrowly missed advancing to nationals with this placement.
Competing for the team, junior Anna Paulsen placed third in intermediate fences while sophomore Kristina Torkelsen finished fourth in limit fences.
“It was really nerve-wracking at first, but I had all of my teammates around me, supporting me. That made it a lot easier,” Torkelsen said, adding that it was her first time competing at zones.
Sigmond-Warner said that the judge did a lot more testing this year, which she said speaks to how talented everyone at the show was.
Testing occurs when the judge calls back the top riders or the riders contending for second place and has them perform different tests to help score the class. She explained that this involves having riders either complete a portion of their regular course or compete in a modified course, sometimes with the riders swapping horses for that testing portion.
“This is a true test of ability and adaptability since the riders have mere seconds to listen to the new course for testing being announced before they go into the ring,” Sigmond-Warner said.
McEneaney was called back for testing both individually and for the team in open fences, and Paulsen was also called back for team intermediate fences.
In order to have qualified for nationals individually, the riders had to get first or second at zones. In addition, only the top two teams based on the points added up would qualify. Lafayette did not have any riders qualify individually, and the team’s fourth-place finish did not allow it to qualify as a whole either.
“I thought it was great competition,” Torkelsen said. “It was really interesting to compete against people that we don’t normally [compete against] in our region, it was interesting to see some new faces. Everyone is such a great rider there, it was really fun to compete against them.”
Zones marked the end of the road for Lafayette’s season, but the team expressed excitement for newcomers next fall.
