Stanford Wins Back-To-Back Championships at Hunt Seat Season Opener

High Point Rider (Sat), Sr. Rachel Kolb

Stanford's Hunt Seat team kicked off the season with two commanding wins at home on November 5 and 6 at the Red Barn. On Saturday the day began with a strong showing by Sr. Rachel Kolb, who not only won Intermediate Fences (on Landor) but also took 2nd in Intermediate Flat, becoming the first rider to qualify for Regionals (in both classes!) and earning High Point Rider honors. Fr. Claire Margolis, showing for the Cardinal in the Open division for the first time, won Open Flat (on Kandinsky) and placed 3rd in Open Fences, giving her the Reserve High Point title in the field of 100 riders.

High Point Rider (Sun), Fr. Claire Margolis

In addition to the contributions by Kolb and Margolis, Stanford's win on Saturday was aided by So. Sarah Jacobson's win in Advanced Walk Trot Canter and Jr. Gladys Delgadillo's first-ever blue ribbon in Walk Trot. Also putting points on the board for the Cardinal were Sr. Maddy Sessions in Novice Flat, Sr. Erica Keenan in Advanced Walk Trot Canter, and Fr. Victoria Sienczewski in her first Walk Trot showing. Stanford bested the field of 9 schools with final scores of: Stanford 44, UC Davis 26, UC Berkeley 24, Cal Poly SLO 16, Nevada 13, Sonoma 11, Santa Cruz 9, Santa Clara 9, COS 9.

Stanford's Margolis and Kolb

Sunday was another good day for Margolis, who scored a win in Open Flat (on Loristaan) and a 2nd in Open Fences (on Armani), this time taking the championship in the High Point Rider race. Stanford proved unbeatable on the flat with a win in every division, including Sr. Justine Thomas in Intermediate, Sr. Nikki Aguirre in Novice, Fr. Tori Greenen in Advanced Walk Trot Canter, Jr. Elise DeBuysser in her first showing in Beginning Walk Trot Canter, and Fr. Wei Ling Heng in Walk Trot. It was the first IHSA competition for Greenen and Heng. In addition, Aguirre, Keenan, and Delgadillo all scored for the Cardinal. Once again, Stanford bested the field of 9 with final scores of: Stanford 30, UC Davis 28, Sonoma 26, UC Berkeley 23, Nevada 16, Santa Cruz 14, Santa Clara 11, Cal Poly 9, COS 7.

Stanford Equestrian's next event is a Hunt Seat show in Watsonville on Nov 19th, hosted by UC Santa Cruz.