EASTON, Mass. (March 24, 2022) – Six members of the Stonehill College equestrian team have qualified for the Intercollegiate Horse Show Association (IHSA) Zone 1, Region 4 Championships, which will take place on Saturday, March 25 at Holly Hill Farm in Hanover, Mass. at 9 a.m. Representing the squad at this year's regionals are Madeline Ahern, Grace Faddoul, Kaitlyn Gilson, Sarah Herring,  Lindsey Simmons, and Haley Whittaker. In order to qualify for regionals, a rider would need 36 points and if a rider qualified in open division, the rider needed only 28 points.

Stonehill capped the regular season with multiple top-five finishes including last week's first place finish in their final home show for the spring where the Skyhawks notched 44 points. Besides a fourth place finish at the Endicott/Brandies show back in November (Nov. 5), Stonehill's equestrian team has finsihed in second in each of their other meets throughout the 2022-23 season.

Ahern, a sophomore, qualified for the regionals in the open division's flat and fences events. Ahern clinched her spot in postseason when she grabbed third place in open fences at the Bridgewater State.Babson College Show (Mar. 5) which put her up to 29 points meeting the qualification mark. Ahern earned her spot in regionals for the flat when she came in first at last week's home show which gave her the neccessary 28 points. In four out of her five shows this year, Ahern has posted four top three finishes in a variety of open division events.

Faddoul qualified for the regionals in both the limit flat and limit fences events. The sophomore secured her spot in the regionals flat event when she finished in first place at Stonehill's first home show back in November (Nov. 12). Later in the year, she clinched her regionals spot in the fences event when she also had a first place mark in the fences event at the Bridgewater State/Babson College show. Overall on th eyear, Faddoul had strong performances throughout as she had five first place finishes in multiple limit division events.

Gilson, a junior, qualified for regionals when she finished in fourth place in the walk-trot division which then put her at the required 36 points. Throughout the year, Gilson had many top five finishes which included a first place finish at Stonehill's fall home show in the walk trot division.

Herring qualified for regionals in both Intermediate Flat and Intermediate Fences events.  She highlighted the day by scoring 36 points in both events, landing her fourth place finishing at the Bridgewater State/Babson College show (Mar. 5).  36 points are needed to qualify for regionals, and she scored her ride to regionals.  Throughout the season, Herring has been a top contendor in each of her events.

Simmons, a junior, qualified for regioals in the limit fences event.  She placed third behind Whittacker in the show with Bridgewater State/ Babson College (Mar. 5).  Earlier in the season she was one of three Skyhawks to place first in the show with Boston College (Nov. 14) landing top spot in the limit division's flat event.

Finally, Whittaker qualified for regionals in the limit flat division after scoring the two first place finishes of the day in over fences and flat events for the limit division at their home show with Boston University (Mar. 19).  This is the second year she has qualified for regionals, following her qualification for novice division in last years season.

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