43rd Annual IHSA National Championships History in the Making

By L.A. Pomeroy, for Intercollegiate Horse Show Association

On the rear window of the white Centenary College van en route from New Jersey to Lexington, Kentucky was written: “654 miles. 23 people. 1 reason.” The reason was Centenary’s defense of its Collegiate Cup High Point Hunter Seat Team title at the Intercollegiate Horse Show Association (IHSA) National Championships. This year, the 43rd edition of the IHSA Nationals were hosted May 6-9 in the luxurious new indoor arena at the Kentucky Horse Park, where the world’s greatest horses and riders would soon meet in Lexington for the World Equestrian Games. Like those international equestrians, New Jersey’s defending titlists were bringing their A-game. Great competition, in any college sport, often requires getting inside the head of your opposition. As the team Collegiate Cup qualifiers began, Centenary delivered a victorious opening stroke, thanks to Julie Connors winning the IHSA Perpetual Trophy in Novice Equitation Over Fences. But this was Lexington, and much like its legendary horse races, while everyone was watching the front-runner, another team shrewdly navigated its way through the classes and, by the end of team competition on Saturday afternoon, had usurped the presumed favorite. The riders from Skidmore College and the upstate New York horse racing mecca known as Saratoga Springs, lived up to their motto, ‘Built Ford Tough’ (as in coach, Cindy Ford). When the final points were tallied for the 2010 IHSA High Point Hunter Seat Team Collegiate Cup, Skidmore was eight points ahead (28 points overall), leaving Centenary College and University of Findlay (Ohio), tied for reserve at 20 points each. The thoroughly thoroughbred Skidmore College was no stranger to the Cup, having won in 1990, 1991, 1995, 1996, and 1999, but success in the 21st century had, up until now, eluded them. The 2010 win marked the first Collegiate Cup of the century for Ford and her team. “This was always the goal,” said Ford, who has coached Skidmore since 1991, and was joined by assistant coach, Belinda Colgan. “We have a great team of solid riders who made every ride count. These are students who are achievers in the classroom and they put the same effort into their riding.” “This win is representative of Skidmore’s great program. Our entire staff is here, plus our horses and riders. Our college athletic department is one hundred percent behind us. We are seen as part of the department and as a true varsity sport, and we appreciate that.” Ford, who serves as IHSA regional president for Zone 2, Region 3, also said she appreciated the win-win benefits of new partnerships, like that between IHSA and the U.S. Hunter Jumper Association (USHJA). “It can only help us get bigger and better. The support of organizations like USHJA gives us ever-greater credibility and opportunities for sponsors to participate in supporting intercollegiate riding.”

Lyons Roar, Cup Retires For Mount Holyoke College of western Massachusetts, there’s rarely been a championship ‘dry spell.’ Under coaches C.J. Law, and Gilly McPhee, in the last decade the Lyons have won two Collegiate Cups (2000, 2006), and produced one USEF/Cacchione Cup winner, Laena Romond (2002). This year, they added the name of their hunter seat team captain, Lindsay Sceats, to the Cacchione Cup’s list of champions. In front of hunter seat judges Don Stewart and Susie Schoellkopf, Sceats earned a final total score of 175 points. Second-place (172) went back to Savannah College of Art and Design in South Carolina with Kelse Bonham. “She is so consistent and matter-of-fact. Even in the midst of preparing for medical school, when the going gets tough, she can put her nerves down deep,” said Law, Mount Holyoke’s head coach and IHSA Zone 1 chair, about her student’s win. Her Lyons teammates were ebullient. Before burying their captain in a mountain of hugs outside the arena, they said with one voice: “Lindsay really wanted this. She worked so hard. This is the best possible happy ending. She juggled her duties as captain, and as a rider, really well.” The 2010 USEF/Cacchione Cup winner was tired but happy. “I wanted to ride in college and here I am. IHSA has made it so much fun to ride for a team. These are forty of my best friends.” For McPhee, who is leaving Mount Holyoke College for new horizons in Illinois, things could not have ended on a higher note: “There is no better way to have my Mount Holyoke career come to a conclusion than like this. Lindsay deserved it.” “She and Gilly have been amazing,” Law said of the team captain and coach. “They both earned this.” Sceats steps into her new role as Cacchione Cup champion at a unique juncture in the history of the trophy. First presented in 1972 (to Duncan Peters, University of Connecticut) and named in loving memory of Marty Cacchione, father of IHSA co-founder and executive director, Bob Cacchione, the annual presentation of the Cacchione Cup to the high point individual hunter seat rider has been one of the most prestigious events on the Nationals program. IHSA retired its original Cacchione Cup in a special Friday evening celebration at the International Museum of the Horse at the Kentucky Horse Park, and unveiled a thrilling new trophy, created by figurative metal sculptor, Kathryn Capley, and produced by Hodges Badge Company. Among those in attendance to welcome the new trophy were past Cacchione Cup champions, including inaugural recipient, Peters (’72, UConn), Suzie nee-Horrigan Campbell (’76, Colby Sawyer), two-time champion, Heidi nee-Bossow Casciaro (’85, ’87, Hollins), James Fairclough II, (’08, Drew), and 2009 winner, Lindsay Clark (Centenary). Another historic step in collegiate hunter seat history had taken place the night before when USHJA hosted an Open House for IHSA and friends at its new offices and museum at the Kentucky Horse Park. A shared handshake and sense of enthusiasm between the organizations’ leaders, Cacchione for IHSA and USHJA president, Bill Moroney, fueled a high energy evening of pride and optimism for what American hunt seat riders have achieved and what still lies ahead. Metaphoric of that united effort was the United States show jumping collection on display at the USHJA museum, including the “Moving Star” grand prix fence from the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, and the red USET jacket worn by William C. Steinkraus at the 1968 Olympic Games. That was the year Steinkraus won individual Gold, and golden opportunities are also expected, for college coaches, students, and equestrian education programs as IHSA and USHJA forge this new partnership.

Romney Reins in Titles There’s a line in a Pink Floyd song, “Come in here, dear boy, have a cigar. You’re gonna go far…” and one has to wonder if those lyrics crossed Jason Romney’s mind as he came down Cigar Lane and entered the Kentucky Horse Park Indoor Arena before the start of the open reining classes. The Utah State University marketing major may not have appreciated the analogy early in the week but, by the show’s conclusion, it was clear the modest young horseman in the simple blue shirt and jeans had not only enjoyed the good fortune to draw one of the best possible reining horses for the NRHA Open Reining class, but had the talent to fire up that horsepower and smoke his competition. In front of Western judges Charlene Carter, and Bonnie Jo Clay, Romney and the 14.3-hand chestnut, Wenloch Haidabilly (poster horse for the University of Findlay Western Equitation Program), scored 144 points on NRHA Pattern 9 to decisively clinch the class and its 2010 NRHA Morrison Bronze Reining Trophy, NHRA Pewter Reining Trophy, and Tex Tan Saddle sponsored by AQHA. The duo finished seven-a-half points ahead of reserve titlist, Alexandra Jones (136.5 points) riding for Berry College of Georgia. “I had a phenomenal horse. I watched him in the warm-up and got a little nervous because he was a cool horse. I knew right away he would be a very good draw,” Romney said of the horse better known around Findlay’s barn as ‘Little Bill.’ It was the second time in four years that Romney, who started showing halter horses at age seven, and trains at USU under coach Rebecca Lewis, had qualified for the IHSA Nationals. “I want to finish school, but every time I try to get out of horses fulltime, I seem to get deeper in it,” he grinned. “I love reining and cow work.” Rounding out the top three positions after Romney in the class were Jones, Kelsey Moody (135 points) for St. Andrews Presbyterian College in North Carolina, and Jillian Staurowsky (134 points) for the University of Delaware. The quintessential young cowboy isn’t the least bit self-conscious about often being the only member of his gender in the intercollegiate ring. In this year’s Open, all his competitors were young women. As for the occasional ribbing he gets on campus for Western riding as his athletic focus, Romney shrugs it off. “I think IHSA is an incredible opportunity to get involved in reining and work with great coaches and horses. The teamwork is a huge plus. I love IHSA and the camaraderie I get with the other riders. It’s made for great friendships.” The already-experienced horseman and AQHA Youth Worlds veteran said, “Breed shows are about one-on-one competition. IHSA is great because you get that experience, plus the closeness of working as a team.” Romney’s selflessness was amply rewarded the following day when he turned in a 139-point performance on Pattern 5 in the final phase of the AQHA High Point Western Rider standings to bolster his overall score to 211 points. He clinched a second Tex Tan saddle, and the 2010 IHSA/AQHA High Point Western Rider trophy. Reserve went to Sabrina Wilson of Stanford University.

Findlay’s Dominance Continues Since the turn of the new century, what UConn has been for college basketball, the University of Findlay (Ohio) has been to intercollegiate Western competition: a consistent source of excellence and above-average winning performances. In 2001, Findlay became the first school in IHSA history to win national championships in both Western and Hunter Seat. The Western team captured championships again in 2005 and 2007, when the Oilers continued their record-breaking streak by scoring 20 points over its closest competitor (the largest IHSA Nationals margin ever), and Findlay’s Travis Womer became the first rider to win Western and Hunter Seat Individual titles. Findlay was also the first school to have IHSA High Point riders four years in a row: Jake Bowman (2005), Travis Womer (2006, also the first IHSA High Point rider to win both the Open and Reining classes), Trevor Dare (2007) and Katie Morehead (2008). With head coach Cindy Morehead, and assistant coach, NRHA and AQHA Congress Halls of Famer, Clark Bradley, at the helm, the Oilers again steered course in Lexington for the AQHA High Point Team trophy, and successfully defended their 2009 title. Findlay scored 31 points overall, (defeating Ohio University by 10 points), thanks to winning rides by students like Andrew Wolf, winner of the AQHA Open Reining Pattern class, on Mark Turner’s 14.2-hand chestnut mare, Party Girl. “She can get a little ‘chargy’ in the run-downs, and when you ask, you’d better be prepared for her stop, but overall, she was an easy going ride,” Wolf said after his win. In more team competition, Heather Kiesewetter won the Intermediate Western Horsemanship, and Spencer Zimmerman captured first place in the Novice Western Horsemanship. In individual competition, Heather Kiesewetter won the Beginner Western Horsemanship, Ashley Wolf was victorious in the Intermediate Western Horsemanship, Madison Hallas was the top placer in the Novice Western Horsemanship and Ashley Drown was first in the Advanced Western Horsemanship. Katie Morehead ended up third overall for the AQHA Western High Point Rider Award. On May 10, Findlay’s athletic department hosted a reception outside Croy Gymnasium to welcome its 2010 IHSA National Champion Western team home.

Riding Forward The Intercollegiate Horse Show Association encompasses 31 Regions in nine Zones, with 376 teams in 45 states and Canada. More than 8,650 students participate in IHSA Hunter Seat equitation or over fences, Western horsemanship, or reining. “The vision,” said Cacchione, “has always been to keep this in a college network. We have seen growth since 1997 but never imagined we would reach this far or grow so much. The command has come from IHSA, and we have heard it loud and clear, to continue to push career success in our young people, and to grow with our colleges and our sport.” In 2011, the 44th edition of the IHSA National Championships will return to Lexington and the Kentucky Horse Park. “Hosting the Nationals in the Horse Park’s new Indoor Arena, recently constructed for the upcoming World Equestrian Games, was absolutely exciting,” Cacchione added. “The riders competing here represented the premier riders from each region and zone and delivered an exciting contest. Sportsmanship, team spirit, safety and fun have remained the objectives of this organization since its inception, and we invite full time undergraduate college students, regardless of their financial status and/or riding ability, to learn and enjoy the thrill of riding competition.” “We share IHSA’s enthusiasm for encouraging young men and women in their pursuit of excellence, in equestrian competition and horsemanship. So we believe that the IHSA Nationals and the Kentucky Horse Park are a perfect team,” agreed John Nicholson, KHP executive director. However many miles it takes, every year, one reason remains: Getting to the Nationals. See you in Lexington in 2011.

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