COOLVILLE, Ohio – SMWC's hunt seat equestrian team traveled to Coolville, Ohio this weekend to compete at the last regular season show of 23-24. Only the team that accrues the most points over the course of the regular season advances out of the region into post season competition. SMWC went into the weekend with a 19- point lead over their long-time rival, Purdue University. Competition throughout the weekend was very competitive and ended exactly the same way it started, with SMWC leading the region by 19 points.
That unofficially qualifies them to move forward to the first round of team post season competition at the IHSA Zone 7 Finals on March 30. The top two teams from that competition will advance to IHSA Nationals May 3-5 in Tryon, NC. Official results for Zone 7, Region 1 will be announced on March 17
th at the Regional Championship, which the first leg of individual post season. Regionals will be hosted at SMWC and has a 1p.m. start time.
This past weekend, Saturday's competition was a nail bitter, with SMWC claiming top three honors throughout the morning but falling just short of class winners. The afternoon proved the team's tenacity with
Madisyn Courtney,
Hannah Minton,
Quincy Blodgett, and
Abbigael Coyle claiming the wins in their respective divisions. The day ended on a 42-40 score with Purdue taking top honors.
On Sunday SMWC showed out, starting the morning with class winners in every fence division.
Jaden Perry,
Nina Eglund, and Katie Wendorf started the morning with a bang taking the top three spots in the competitive open fence class. The rest of the day rolled out in a similar fashion with SMWC putting a final score of 46 points up on the board just shy of a perfect 49 point score. As always, Purdue University was an excellent rival, putting 44 points on the board to end their regular season. Sundays class winners from SMWC included:
Jaden Perry,
Madisyn Courtney,
Hannah Minton,
Kyley Pelfrey,
Chesney Wilson,
Savanna Amschl,
Harmony Deal, and
Abbigael Coyle.
Kyley Pelfrey earned the High Point Rider honors and
Jaden Perry got the Reserve ribbon.
Teams competing this weekend included: Ball State University, Butler University, Earlham College, Indiana University, Purdue University, Saint Mary of the Woods College, Taylor University, and the University of Illinois (hosts).
