McConville is the first Skyhawk since Emily Dolan '13 to head to Nationals for the Cacchione Cup
The 2018-19 team qualified for Zone 1 Championships, finishing fifth overall, returning to Zones after a seven-year hiatus (PHOTO BY: Chris Marion) |
SOUTH HADLEY, Massachusetts (April 6, 2019) – The Stonehill College equestrian team saw its team season come to an end with a fifth-place finish at the Intercollegiate Horse Show Association (IHSA) Zone 1 Championships, hosted by Mount Holyoke College on Saturday.
Stonehill, who captured the IHSA Zone 1, Region 4 Championship this season, its first since 2012, will send one individual to the IHSA National Championships in Syracuse, New York at the New York State Fairgrounds. The top two teams at the Zone Championships advance to Nationals.
The Skyhawks saw junior Emma McConville compete in the Cacchione Cup, where she placed third, qualifying her for her first appearance at Nationals in open flat and open fences.
Stonehill saw two third-place finishes, all just missing out on an opportunity to qualify for Nationals.
For the team, junior Mariah Hanson finished third in intermediate flat, as senior Rachel Scibek also earned third in intermediate fences. Junior Laura Solar recorded the teams' third third-place ribbon, as she competed in novice fences and freshman Olivia Cerratani, competing in her first Zone Championships, placed third in walk trot. Junior Kaitlin Kotfila got fourth in team open flat, as freshman Hannah Lennon and sophomore Shannon Gorsky also finished fourth in walk-trot-canter and novice flat, respectively. Overall, the team finished fifth at the Championships.
Individually, Hanson also placed third in intermediate fences and sixth in novice fences. Scibek tallied her second third-place finish of the day in her individual novice fences event. Sophomore Molly McCutcheon, who qualified for her first Zone Championships, placed fifth in walk-trot-canter. Kotfila finished eighth in intermediate fences individually, while Solar took ninth in novice flat.
McConville will be the lone competitor at IHSA Nationals as she competes for the Cacchione Cup from Thursday, May 2 to Sunday, May 5 in Syracuse, New York at the New York State Fairgrounds. McConville is the first Skyhawk to go to Nationals for the Cacchione Cup since Emily Dolan '13 finished seventh in 2013.
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