One Equestrian's Journey: IHSA Regionals

Thursday, March 27, 2014

IHSA Regionals

by Kirsten Farley

IHSA Regionals

3/22/2014

Hosted by St. Andrews

The official last show held at St. Andrews for the 2013-2014 season has come and gone. On Saturday, the St. Andrews Hunter Seat team hosted Regionals for Zone 4 Region 3. The riders who earned 1^st and 2^nd qualify to move on to Zone finals.

St. Andrews as a team has qualified to move on to Zones, with individual riders Kelsey Kocher, Cami Glaff, Julie Griffin, and Madison Edwards qualifying to move forward. Kelsey will also represent the Region at Nationals to compete for the Cacchione Cup.

Kelsey Kocher won both the Open flat and over fences and summarized her day saying, “Great beginning for my freshman year. There has to be a first for everything; a great way to start my competitive college career. Looking forward to the challenge that the Zone Finals will bring.”

Cami Glaff, a junior who qualified for Zones last year and again this year, said, “It is bitter sweet as my good friend Nikki Napoleone was third in the flat class and did not qualify for Zones.”

Madison Edwards and Julie Griffin who were both called back for Walk, Trot, Canter earned 1st and 2nd, qualifying both of them for Zones. Madison said after her ride, “Unbelievable! I experienced some disappointments this year and decided to really work hard. I have been lucky with horse draws and have had incredible support from my friends. I also want to thank our coach Matt Arrigon and Program Director Peggy McElveen for everything they have done to make this experience possible.”

Julie Griffin stated, “I had beautiful rides today and that is thanks to the grueling practices Coach Arrigon puts us through. It also helps that I have a lot of prior show experience. My ride today was all about perfecting my position.”

At the end of the day Peggy McElveen and Matt Arrigon both commented on how the day unfolded and what was to come.

Peggy said, “The competition was very good today, even a small mistake that would not affect a ride at a regular show made a huge difference today.”

Matt, who is already gearing the girls up for Zone finals, put it this way, “We have work to do before Zones. Zones is tough. We are in a good place and the group works together well as a solid team. They want to do well and are competitive. A total of 9 or 10 students will travel to Zones as either individuals or team members or both. We will be competing against strong schools, Goucher, Mary Washington and Bridgewater with two teams advancing to the National Championships on May.”