The equestrian team took fourth place at Wesleyan over the weekend in its last show of the fall season. Despite the fourth-place finish, the Bears still hold a two-point lead over University of Rhode Island in the overall season standings, which gives Brown solid ground to start on when the season resumes in the spring.
Although the Bears had two first-place finishes in the Open Fences division to start the day, neither Elizabeth Giliberti '10 nor Elise Fishelson '11 was the point rider, and despite their blue ribbons the Bears picked up only one point from the division. Fortunately for the Bears, their next first-place finisher, Dakota Gruener '11, was the point rider in the Intermediate Fences division, earning two points for Brown and pulling Bruno within two points of URI for the lead. Leona Rosenblum '09 concluded the jumping portion of the show by adding a third-place finish in the Novice division.
Sitting four points behind the first place Rams, the Bears entered the flat portion of the show eager to make up ground in what have been many of their strongest events this season. In Open Flat, Giliberti took second as the point rider, and Fishelson and Cody Auer '09 also pinned second and third in their classes, respectively.
In Intermediate Flat, the Bears again turned to Gruener as their point rider, and Gruener came up big with a third place finish, earning another four points for Brown. Cara Rosenbaum '12 added another crucial five points for Bruno by placing second in Advanced Walk Trot Canter, and Colleen Brogan '10, features editor of post-, The Herald's weekly arts and culture magazine, had an impressive showing in the event as well, pinning first in her class. Katy Eng '11 also had an impressive showing in Novice Flat, earning a second place finish.
Unfortunately for the Bears, the team struggled in Beginner Walk Trot Canter and Walk Trot, and the Bears finished the show tied for fourth with a total of 26 points, 15 behind winner URI.
While the Rams got the best of the Bears in the show, it wasn't enough to overcome the Bears' 17-point lead in the season standings entering the show, and Brown finished the fall season in first place in the season standings, two points ahead of URI.
While the Bears didn't have their best performance as a team at Wesleyan, the show proved to be a strong showing for Giliberti and Fishelson as individuals, as both were able to improve their positions in the Cacchione Cup standings, which sends the top rider from each region to Nationals.
Giliberti's two second-place finishes increased her season total to 61 points, giving her an impressive 12-point lead over Fishelson, who jumped into second place with a season total of 49 points, overtaking riders from JWU and URI, which both have 46 points.
