By SARAH COOPER and ALLIE ROBERTSON
IHSA MEDIA INTERNS
The Berry Equestrian team is officially in the running for a three peat in its IHSA (Intercollegiate Horse Shows Association) national title streak.
The team solidified its IHSA Nationals berth by coming in second behind the University of Findlay Ohio at the Western Semi- Finals in Buffalo, NY in March. Nationals will take place May 4-7 at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington; qualifying teams needed to place in the top three at semis. Berry’s riders also performed well on the individual front – all individual riders placed fourth or above and will advance to Nationals alongside the team.
Semis: the breakdown
Before the last team class at Semis, the team was tied for third place with Delaware Valley University. The last team class was Open Horsemanship where Elizabeth Poczobut placed first and solidified the team spot at Nationals. The team placed ahead of Cazenovia College who also qualified.
All 10 girls who came to compete in New York individually are moving on to Nationals in May and we are so excited and proud!
The Hunt Seat team traveled to their Zones competition on April 1 in Ocala, Fla. They ended up fourth in the zone with a narrow miss for Nationals contention. Madison Eiberger qualified individually in Novice Equitation on the Flat.
As always, ride em’, slide em’, jump em’! Go Berry!
Western Semis placings:
The girls headed North and did a little sightseeing before the Western Semifinals competition. They visited Niagara Falls and went to dinner on Lake Erie. It was much colder than Georgia, but they didn’t let that get in the way! The girls rode well and placed as follows:
Individual Reining
AnnaLee Cooley, 4th
Individual Open Horsemanship
Elizabeth Ellis, 4th
Individual Advanced Horsemanship
Courtney Woodard, 1st
AnnaLee Cooley, 4th
Individual Novice Horsemanship
Mariel Wrench, 2nd
Individual Intermediate Horsemanship
Alex Sievenpiper, 3rd
Individual Beginner Horsemanship
Emily Lambert, 4th
Team Reining
AnnaLee Cooley, 5th
Team Open Horsemanship
Elizabeth Poczobut, 1st
Team Advanced Horsemanship
Mariel Wrench, 4th
Team Novice Horsemanship
Sarah Cooper, 4th
Team Intermediate Horsemanship
Allie Robertson, 5th
Team Beginner Horsemanship
Mary Catherine Hix, 2nd
