Friday, July 29, 2005

USA Region 2 Wins Team Gold Medal in Dressage at 2005 CN North American Young Riders’ Championships, Presented by Adequan

Lexington, VA—July 28, 2005—USA Region 2 won the team Gold Medal in dressage at the 2005 CN North American Young Riders’ Championships (NAYRC) presented by Adequan. The 2005 NAYRC are being held at the Virginia Horse Center in Lexington, VA, the Championships’ first appearance in the mid-Atlantic region.

Kaitlyn Hamilton of Oxford, MI and Allie Nichols of Cincinnati, OH put Region 2 in the lead during the first half of the team competition on Wednesday. Hamilton scored 67.111% on Noviembre and Nichols scored 65.600% on Lexington. They were able to watch on Thursday as their teammates clinched the gold. Kassandra Barteau of Gilberts, IL scored 66.578% on Gabriella and Lauren Sprieser of Oak Brook, IL scored 64.800% on L’Etoile 6.

Counting their three best scores, Region 2 won with a score of 199.289.

The NAYRC is the premier equestrian competition in North America for young riders, age 16-21. Young equestrians come from the United States, Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico, and the Caribbean Islands to vie for team and individual medals in the three Olympic equestrian disciplines of show jumping, dressage, and eventing. This year also features select riders from outside North America.

“This is the kind of team you always dream about,” said Sprieser who’s competing in her third and final Young Riders’ championships. “Everyone is so supportive of each other and we all get along so great. We could all kind of tell through the qualifiers that we would be the four to make it and we really came together well.”

Winning the team Silver with a score of 195.333 was USA Region 7 with the Bronze going to Region 5 with a score of 193.867.

Leading individually entering Friday’s Prix St. Georges is Catherine Malone of Coatesville, PA and Region 1 who had a score of 68.978% on Michigan. Dani Judy of El Cajon, CA and Region 7 is second with 68.622% on Antaeus and Region 2’s Kaitlyn Hamilton is third. The individual medals will be determined after Sunday’s Freestyle.

Horsesdaily "On the Scene" at the 2005 NAYRC
Individual Results
Team results
More photos at phelpsphotos.com>search by Show/Event>North American Young Riders' Championships 2005