Brown Equestrian Rides to Third Place at Ivy League Championships

Hanover, NH - The Brown equestrian squad rode to a third place finish at the Ivy League Championship over the weekend, finishing behind only Cornell and host school Dartmouth on a cold morning in Hanover.  A number of Brown riders turned in strong performances, led by sophomore Marissa Fuerst, who was crowned the League Grand Champion in the Advanced Walk Trot Canter.

 The action began with Open Fences, which saw a pair of top-six finishes for Brown.  Junior Dakota Gruener took third in her class, and then followed with a terrific ride to take third overall in the Championship class.  Classmate Elise Fishelson, meanwhile, placed second in her class before going on to take sixth overall.

In Intermediate Fences, the Bears had another pair of strong rides, as sophomore Rebecca McGoldrick, an IHSA National qualifier, placed fourth overall, while junior Katy Eng took sixth.  Sophomore Cara Rosenbaum then followed that with an overall fifth in the Novice Fences.

After transitioning to the flat, Brown got its first top-two finish of the afternoon, as senior Liz Giliberti, the 2010 Cacchione Cup winner for the Bears, won the Reserve Champion Award in the Open Flat Championship.  Fellow senior Rachel Griffith also rode well, earning sixth place.

In the Novice Flat, Rosenbaum became Brown's only rider to finish in the top-six twice, pinning second to take the Reserve Championship.  Senior Colleen Brogan also qualified for the Championship class, but just missed placing.

The next even was Advanced Walk Trot Canter, which saw Fuerst pin first to be crowned Grand Champion, and become Brown's sole Ivy champion on the day.  That was followed by Walk Trot, where rookie Karolina Woronieka took fourth overall and Sophia Lin pinned fifth.

The Bears will be back in action on May 6, when they travel to Lexington to compete at the IHSA Nationals.