Sunday, November 14, 2010

Stanford Equestrian's English side back to winning form at home

Alyssa Baldocchi rides to her first IHSA blue
Stanford Equestrian hosted its first home show of the season on November 13 and 14, welcoming the seven other schools in Zone 8, Region 1 to the Stanford Red Barn. The Cardinal hunt seat equitation team won both days of competition, with consistent, solid rides that were rewarded by judges Janet Stratton-George and Riley Wilson.

Saturday featured several exciting debuts: Senior Sabrina Wilson, usually seen reining for the Cardinal, showed over fences for the very first time in the Novice division and rode to a second place. Her flat ride impressed the judge as well, earning her a blue in Novice Flat. After pointing out of Novice Flat one show prior, senior Jaslyn Law took home first place in both Intermediate Fences and in her first ride in the Intermediate Flat division to go home with the day's High Point Rider tricolor ribbon. Riding in their first home show, freshmen Olivia Cords and Althea Wallop earned 2nd place in Advanced and Beginning Walk-Trot-Canter, respectively, while senior Claire Menke, a veteran to the show ring, pointed from Beginning to Advanced with a win. Senior Andrew Dargie made his horse show debut in Walk-Trot to take home 3rd place. Other point-earners were sophomore Emily Cohodes, consistent as ever in Open Flat and Fences, as well as sophomore Kristen Malinak, sophomore Gladys Delgadillo, and freshman Macey Sanchez.

Sunday's competition started off with a decisive wins over fences by Emily Cohodes in Open and freshman Morgan Abbett in Novice. Stanford riders competing on the flat continued to rack up points for the Cardinal. Senior Alyssa Baldocchi, in her debut intercollegiate horse show, rode through a tough flat draw to win Intermediate Flat, and Sabrina Wilson added another blue to her string in Novice Flat, qualifying her for Regional Finals. Sophomore Sasha Najera put down a solid ride to place third in Advanced Walk-Trot-Canter. Senior Ariane Tom made the transition from dressage to hunt seat seamlessly in her first IHSA show to win Beginner Walk-Trot-Canter. Also contributing to the point total for the day were Gladys Delgadillo, Kristen Malinak, and freshman Sasha Arijanto.

At the halfway point of the season, Stanford now leads the region with 103 points, followed by Cal Poly - San Luis Obispo (75 points).


Stanford's hunt seat equitation team returns to competition in January, when they will travel to UC Davis.