Equestrian Opens Season With Second and Fifth Place Finishes

McConville earns high-point rider status in Saturday's show


Solar earned her first blue ribbon of the season, her third in her career in novice fences

HOLLISTON, Massachusetts (October 14, 2018) – The Stonehill College equestrian team opened its 2018-19 season with two Intercollegiate Horse Show Association (IHSA) Zone 1, Region 4 events at August Farm in Holliston, Massachusetts on Saturday hosted by Brandeis University and Sunday hosted by Tufts University and Wheaton College.

Brandeis University Show

Junior Emma McConville led the Skyhawks as she earned high point rider status to lead two blue ribbon performances as Stonehill took second place at the Brandeis University show.

McConville placed first in open equitation on the fences and second in open flat as she returns as the reigning IHSA Zone 1, Region 4 champion in open flat. Junior Laura Solar also earned a first-place ribbon, her third-career blue ribbon, as she earned it in novice fences. She also took home fourth in novice flat, in which she was one of two Skyhawks to qualify for regionals. Junior Kaitlin Kotfila also qualified for regionals with her fourth-place finish in intermediate fences, as she returns as the reserve champion in Zone 1, Region 4 intermediate flat.

Junior Mariah Hanson also competed in intermediate fences and novice flat and earned fifth place, as she returns as the Zone 1, Region 4 reserve champion in novice fences. Sophomore Molly McCutcheon was the second Skyhawk to earn a runner-up ribbon, but in walk-trot-canter division.

Sophomores Kylie Katz and Madison Roberts earned fourth place in intermediate and novice flat, respectively. In her first IHSA show, freshman Olivia Cerretani placed fourth in walk-trot, while senior captain Jenna Payne and sophomore Shannon Gorsky both finished sixth in novice fences.  


Hanson also earned a blue ribbon this weekend in novice flat

Tufts University/Wheaton College Show

Hanson led the Skyhawks to a fifth-place finish at the Tufts University/Wheaton College Show at August Farm as she earned her first blue ribbon of the season in novice flat and placed second in intermediate fences. McCutcheon also earned her first blue ribbon of the season, second of her career, as she competed in walk-trot-canter.

Gorsky followed with third place in novice fences and fourth in novice flat, while Payne took home fifth in novice fences. Six fifth-place ribbons were awarded to the Skyhawks, including McConville in open fences and flat, Katz in intermediate fences and flat, freshman Kiley Subklew in her first IHSA show in intermediate fences, and Roberts in novice flat. Cerretani competed in her second-collegiate IHSA show, earning seventh in walk trot.

The Skyhawks take a week off before returning to action on Saturday, October 27 to ride in the Boston University Show at Holly Hill Farm in Cohasset, Massachusetts and host the Stonehill Home Show on Sunday, October 28 at Winters End Farm in Stoughton, Massachusetts.  

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