Photo courtesy of Mount Holyoke Athletics
BY ZELLIE CALAVITA ’26
STAFF WRITER
The Mount Holyoke Riding team hosted the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Springfield College, Bentley College, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Smith College, Amherst College, Worcester State and Bennington College during the Intercollegiate Horse Shows Association Mount Holyoke College Show on Saturday, March 2. The Lyons placed first at their home show with 45 points, with UMass Amherst coming in second with 39 points.
“The varsity Equestrian Team did an excellent job today of competing and running the home horse show,” Director of Intercollegiate Coaching and Varsity Hunt Seat Team Coach C.J. Law said. “The riders are committed to putting on a well-run show and to putting full effort into doing well in the arena. [They] work well together supporting each other and helping each other with all the jobs to host a show with nine colleges competing.”
The show started with Open Fences, where Emmie Mirarchi ’24 and Olivia Simon ’26 won the first two sections. Hallie Phillips ’26 and Hayley Halloran ’24 came in second and sixth place, respectively, in Intermediate Fences. Four Mount Holyoke riders competed in Limit Fences: Sunita Pearson-Siegel ’25, Montserrat Hartwig ’27 and Chloe McElveen ’24, who each took second, and Elliott Candela ’25, who took sixth.
Following the fences were the flats. In the first section of Introductory Flats, Megan Bliamptis ’26 came in first, with Chloe Zhou ’27 following close behind in third. Grace Neumuth ’27, Nora Tripp ’26, Chelsey Ding ’27, Mara Downie ’25 and Charlie May ’26 each competed in classes of the Novice Flat. In the first class, Neumuth and Tripp placed second and fifth, respectively, while May placed first in the last class.
“I am really proud of how much my riding has improved by being on the team for just over a semester,” Neumuth said of her performance. “Working with [Coach] Jay, the athletic trainer, and riding consistently with my trainers throughout the week has helped me so much.”
Camille Cheng ’25 and Halloran each won the Intermediate Flat in their classes, while Lainey Nibbio ’27 and Christine Niu ’27 took second and fifth place, respectively, in the Pre-Novice Flat.
Mirarchi qualified for the Regional Championships in Open Fences, while Pearson-Siegel qualified in Limit Flat and Limit Fences. “I needed 1 point on the flat and 2 points on fences to qualify for the Regional Finals and I achieved my goal. We all worked super hard today,” Pearson-Siegel said.
At the end of the competition, Mirarchi was awarded Reserve High Point Rider honors, Downie won Reserve Novice Rider, Bliamptis secured High Point Introductory Rider honors and Lingdang Zhang ’24 won the Reserve High Point Introductory award.
“The Mount Holyoke riders were competitive. It is so exciting to see the improvement in the riders and to see some of the riders in the ring for the first time,” Law said. “I am proud of how well all the team members worked together as a group and how successful they were in the arena with their riding skills. So many goals were accomplished today.”
The Mount Holyoke Riding team competes next at the UMass Amherst show on Sunday, March 10 at Muddy Brook Farm.