The University of Minnesota, Crookston Hunt Seat and Western Equestrian teams could not have had a better venue to showcase their talents last weekend. The Golden Eagles hosted the regional competition at the University Teaching and Outreach Center (UTOC) on the University of Minnesota, Crookston campus and did not disappoint.
The Hunt Seat team had a very successful regional championship competition. Nicole Veres (Sr, Random Lake, Wis.) was the reserve champion in both Intermediate Equitation Over Fences and Intermediate Equitation on the Flat. This gave her a spot at the Zone Finals in both jumping and on the flat. “This was such a huge success to qualify both on the flat and over fences,” says Golden Eagle Head Coach Brooke Leininger. “I couldn’t be more proud of Nicole.” In Novice Equitation Over Fences, all three of the U of M, Crookston qualified riders made it back to the final call-back. These three riders were Sara Wells (Sr, Calgary, Alberta), Lauren Snively (So, Herndon, Vir.) and Heather Fogelson (So, Grant, Minn.). In the end, Lauren Snively was the champion and Heather Fogelson was reserve champion which qualified both of them for the Zone Finals. “I am very excited to have the University of Minnesota, Crookston take the top two spots in Novice Jumping, which is a very competitive division,” says Coach Leininger. Jessica Charles (Fr, Belgrade Lakes, Maine) was the champion on Walk-Trot-Canter. “Jessica overcame great odds to win this class of 19 riders and really deserved it” says Coach Leininger.
The Western team finished the season with several riders qualifying to advance to the Intercollegiate Horse Show Association (IHSA) National Semifinals March 27 – 28 in Pomona, California. Tandra Klein (Jr, Hazen, N.D.) started the day finishing as Reserve Champion in the Reining with a solid ride. Shortly thereafter, Amanda Peterson (Sr, Rochester, Minn.) took the Open Horsemanship Class. A difficult Advanced Horsemanship Class saw Tandra Klein finishing fourth and Kayla Klein (Jr, Hazen, N.D.) finishing sixth. In the Novice Class, Kaitlyn Tollefsrud (So, Hawley, Minn.) remained tough capturing the Reserve Championship ribbon with a great performance. Becky Rhodus (Jr, Kansas City, Missouri) also took third place. A very large class of Intermediate riders with several ride-offs found Megan Kramer (So, Owatonna, Minn.) returning to the finals and unfortunately not getting into the top six. Finally, Anna Steen (So, Hanover, Minn.) had a great ride and took third in the Beginner Class. Due to the fact that the first place rider of that class is unable to attend semifinals, Steen will take her spot and continue on to the semifinals.
