Hunt Seat riders third at Zone 4 show, Saunders qualifies for Cacchione Cup at IHSA Nationals

Saturday, April 6

Sweet Briar, VA

10:00 AM

Liberty University Club Sports

IHSA Zone IV Championship Horse Show

Liberty's Hunt Seat team placed a program-best third in Saturday's Zone 4 Finals, narrowly missing an IHSA National Championships team qualification. (Photos by Aliyah Hardesty)

Hunt Seat riders third at Zone 4 show, Saunders qualifies for Cacchione Cup at IHSA Nationals

4/9/2024 1:50:00 PM | Equestrian

Liberty missed qualifying as a team for next month's national show in North Carolina by one spot; Maggie Saunders will be the team's fourth representative in the most prestigious event.

Giulia D'Addesi fences jump — Junior Giulia D'Addesi helped Liberty to a third-place team showing in Limit Fences in Saturday's Zone 4 Championships at Sweet Briar.

Liberty University's Hunt Seat equestrian team, which qualified as a team for the Zone 4 Championships for the first time since 2017 by winning its Region 4 show, posted a program-best third-place finish this past weekend at Sweet Briar College.

Meanwhile, senior Maggie Saunders placed second individually — behind only Mallory Francis from overall team champion Hollins University — in the Cacchione Cup competition to become the fourth Lady Flames rider to advance to the Intercollegiate Horse Show Association (IHSA) National Championships. That event will be held May 2-5 at Tryon International Equestrian Center in Mill Spring, N.C., where nearly 500 riders from across the United States and Canada will be competing in all levels of Hunt Seat and Western equestrian.

Maggie-Saunders-Cacchione-qualifier — Senior Maggie Saunders

"Maggie is very dedicated and committed, does all the right things as a team member, and never shies away from extra work that it takes to prepare for a competition," Liberty Head Coach Suzanne Flaig said. "She will look to pace herself to make sure that she is rested and refreshed by time she gets to nationals."

At Sweet Briar, Saunders contributed to her team's first-place finish in the Open Flat division, the event she qualified for nationals in last year individually. She also was part of the fifth-place Open Fences team. She will be one of 24 riders (three from each of the eight Zone finals) contending for the Cacchione Cup, which features a combination of flat and fences events weighed equally. That competition starts May 3, when the field will be narrowed from 24 to 10 for the May 4 finals.

Previously, Elizabeth Chenelle placed a program-best 10th in the Cacchione Cup in the 50th anniversary of the IHSA National Championships in 2017. Amber Gayheart finished 15th in the 2019 competition and Nadia Cooper came in 19th in 2022.

In the Zone 4 team competition, Hollins (43 points) edged Emory & Henry College (42) for High Point team honors and both schools qualified for nationals. Liberty totaled 31 points to miss the cut but finished in front of Goucher (Md.) College (29) and St. Andrews (N.C.) University (23).

"We have never qualified as a team to go to nationals, and this was the closest we've come," Flaig said, noting that there are approximately 60 college and university programs in Zone 4. "All of our riders had good, solid performances on this very competitive stage, moving up from the Region to the Zone competition. Emory & Henry and Hollins have already won nationals before, so I was proud of our team to be as competitive as they were and to post a program-high finish."

Flames junior John Hutchinson was part of Liberty's third-place Intermediate Fences team, and he finished sixth individually in Limit Fences while his twin sister, junior Claire Hutchinson, placed eighth in individual Limit Flat. Senior Tristan Battin rode on the fourth-place Intermediate Flat team while junior Giulia D'Addesi helped Liberty to a third-place team showing in Limit Fences, freshman Katie Staib was a member of the third-place Limit Flat team, freshman Madeleine Hammond rode on the third-place Novice team, junior Macy Ricker finished fifth individually in Introductory, and freshman Sophia Golden rode on the fourth-place Introductory team.

By Ted Allen/Staff Writer