Although the equestrian team had one of its best shows of the year at the Johnson and Wales meet Sunday, the gap between first-place University of Connecticut and the second-place Bears remains too big to overcome in time for the Zone championships April 8.
Bruno defeated UConn 37-35 for the third meet in a row but remains 26 points behind the Huskies overall, with only Saturday's Connecticut College Show left before Regionals.
"It's pretty much impossible at this point, UConn would have to do really poorly next week (for us to gain the lead)," said captain Grace Peloquin '07.
Brown's seniors had a banner day Sunday, placing two riders in the top five in the open flat competition. Ariana Arcenas '06 took second, and Alexis Gilbard '06 was behind her in fourth place.
Cody Auer '09 turned in a second-place finish in the second class for the open flat, and Whitney Keefe '08 came in fourth, while Gilbard and Keefe came in first and second in the third class, respectively.
Two more key wins came from Rachel Roemer '06, who is the lone regional qualifier for the Bears so far. She won both the intermediate and open classes in the fences event.
"Rachel winning both classes was huge for us," Gilbard said. "We were just solid with that event today, which helped towards the end with team points."
It was a close call until the end of the day, when Kristen Beck '08 took first in regular walk-trot-canter to seal the victory for Brown.
"So much of the pressure is performing for the team because it is really more of a team sport in college," Peloquin said.
Hayley Goldbach '09 and Kelly Qu '08 did their part to represent the underclassmen, earning second and third in advanced walk-trot-canter.
Despite being significantly behind UConn, the women are optimistic for their last meet.
"Who knows, maybe their bus will break down or something," Gilbard said
