Centenary Sweeps IHSA Nationals Top Honors

Lindsay Clark may have brought a touch of good luck with her to Centenary College (N.J.), from her family’s New Paltz, N.Y., Lucky C Stables. She helped add four more impressive Cs to the school’s resume—the Intercollegiate Horse Show Association’s Collegiate Cup team championship and the coveted USEF/Cacchione Cup for her individual performance as top open rider.

“We were really consistent. Every one of our riders was really strong,” said Michael Dowling, who was previously Centenary’s assistant coach and took over the head coach position from Andrea Wells this year.

“We have 60 riders on the team, so we have a lot of talent and depth to pick from. Our captains were so strong this year, and there was a terrific sense of camaraderie on the team.

“Our team is very young. We had no seniors on this team—more than 50 percent were freshman,” noted Dowling of his squad, which also boasted members Ali Krecker (fourth in intermediate flat), Julie Conners (fifth in novice fences), Mary Bogatko (walk-trot-canter) and Victoria Rosenthal (walk-trot).

This Collegiate Cup comes as the first in 30 years for Centenary, which last won the prize in consecutive years in 1978 and ’79, the same year the IHSA joined forces with the American Quarter Horse Association to welcome Western competition to the national championship.

The defending Collegiate Cup champions, the University of Kentucky, got off to an early lead on the first day of the competition, held April 23-26 at Middle Tennessee State University’s Miller Coliseum in Murfreesboro.

Five-time champs Skidmore College (N.Y.) were close behind, and Centenary and University of Findlay (Ohio) tied for third. Centenary’s intermediate fences rider, Missy Cohen, added a first place and 7 points to their tally on Friday to bring their team within a point of Kentucky going into the final day.

With several teams within striking distance of the Cup on Saturday morning, all eyes were on the team open over fences class, which would decide the outcome. Clark came into the class strong, standing on top for the Cacchione Cup ride-off, having scored 90 on her first round the day before.

Unfazed by the pressure, Clark turned out a 93. Judges Susan Ashe and Mindy Minetto didn’t need to see any more and placed her on top of the class, without subjecting her to the additional testing faced by the rest of the top six riders.

Though the University of Kentucky team wasn’t able to add anything to their tally that morning, their performance over the previous two days earned them second place overall.

Virginia Intermont’s open rider, Brittany Denton, already brandishing the individual open over fences championship, placed second for her team to bump them into a tie for third overall with Stanford University (Calif).

A Cool Cucumber

Her horse draws turned out to be another “lucky C” for Clark, who rode Hollins University’s (Va.) Tres Corona for both of her 90-plus point rounds.

The former jumper’s maneuverability helped her take chances with inside turns on the course, and drawing him again eliminated some of the guesswork for Saturday morning.