ROCHESTER, N.Y. — The Cornell equestrian team had a successful start to the season this past weekend, taking second place as a team at the RIT show on Saturday and third place on Sunday.
The Big Red was led by a High Point performance by senior
Meridith Meyer on Saturday, who finished first in Open Fences and Open Flat, and by junior
Carlee Roberts on Sunday, who earned Reserve High Point on first place finishes in Intermediate Fences and Intermediate Flat.
Several other Cornell riders posted first place finishes in their events. On Saturday, event winners included junior
Chelsea Huss in Open Flat, senior Libby Drake in Intermediate Flat, junior
Claira Seely in Novice Fences and Novice Flat, junior
Lauren Jaquay in Novice Fences and senior
Amanda Symons and sophomore
Lily Zhao in Walk Trot. The next day, Drake posted her second win, this time in Intermediate Fences, while Jaquay took first in Novice Flat and Zhao got another win in Walk Trot. Senior Katie Smith finished first in Open Flat and
Marissa Rice won Novice Flat.
Freshman
Vaughan Shanley and sophomore Eric Alfiero rode well in their debuts for the Big Red, both improving their performances on the second day of the show. Shanley finished third in Intermediate Fences on Saturday and second in the same event on Sunday, while Alfiero improved from fifth to fourth in Novice Fences.
Drake, Roberts, Rice, Symons and Seely all pointed up into the next division and have qualified for Regionals in their current division. Drake will now compete in Open Fences and will show in Regionals for Intermediate Fences. Roberts has qualified for Regionals in Intermediate Fences and has pointed into Open Fences. Rice has moved into Intermediate Flat and will compete in Regionals for Novice Flat, while Symons has pointed into Beginner Walk Trot Canter and qualified in Walk Trot and Seely has qualified in Novice Fences and will now compete in Intermediate Fences.
The Big Red will once again travel to the Rochester area for its next show when Nazareth College hosts on Nov. 7 and 8.
