2007 North American Junior Young Riders' Championships

Zone 10 is Solid Gold - Day Two at NAJYRC

Today is a big day for show jumping here at the North American Junior Young Riders' Championships. Both the Junior and Young Rider teams faced two testing rounds over a championship style course.

Zone 10 got off to a rocky start in the Junior team competition, but quickly regained composure. Paige Dotson was first in the ring as Zone 10 drew first in the team order. Her horse appeared quite backed off and he stopped at the liverpool oxer, the third obstacle on the course. Paige fell off, but in an FEI Championship riders still receive a score. All eliminated riders from a round receive the highest faults of the round plus 20. Therefore, the rider with the most faults who completed the course had a score of 25, so Paige and the other eliminated riders all received 45 faults for the first round of the day. In addition, only the best three of four scores count in a team competition so as long as the other three Zone 10 riders put in solid rounds, the team remained competitive.

Demonstrating the team aspect of this kind of competition, Danielle Korsh quickly raised hopes when she led off for the second rotation. She and San Diego recorded a fault free round and the Zone 10 cheering section went wild. Meredith Hursh and Runaway then posted a very credible four fault performance in the third rotation, and suddenly Zone 10 looked to be quite competitive. However, the teams from Quebec, Canada and Mexico were still in the hunt.

Saer Coulter anchored the Zone 10 Junior team, and she rode Paddington with precision. Her clear round assured Zone 10 the lead after the first round and last in the rotation order for the second round. Quebec was second and Mexico was third. After the first round, the team scores were as follows:

• Zone 10 4 Zones 1/3 19 Zone 4 Eliminated
• Quebec, CAN 8 Zone 2 21
• Mexico 13 Zone 8 34

However, with a second round facing them, the riders could not afford to get complacent.

Paige rallied in the second round and posted a clear round, which was both a confidence boost for her and a great score for the team. Danielle dropped a rail at the second to last fence, a vertical, and added just four faults to the overall score. Meredith and Saer both posted eight fault rounds, but it was enough to secure the gold medal for Zone 10. Zone 2 really rallied to earn the silver.

"The girls did incredibly well today," said Chef d'Equipe Butch Thomas. "What you try to do with a team is put your most solid rider into the ring first. It didn't quite work out that way," laughed Butch in reference to Paige's unfortunate dismount. "The other girls just picked it up, and then Paige came back in the second round and was the only one of the team to have a clear round. I was really proud of her."

Anthony D'Ambrosio's course proved quite challenging. "The turn to the liverpool was hard," stated Saer, and Paige laughed as that jump proved her undoing in the first round. "There was plenty of course," stated Butch after the competition. "We found the trick with our first rider." Many other riders had trouble at the same liverpool oxer set short out of the end of the ring. "That jump created hell." "Getting off the turn to the first fence was also difficult," added Lu Thomas. "If you got there well, it really set you up. If you didn't, well you had trouble at the next few fences."

All of the Zone 10 riders agreed that the Zone 10 Selection Trials prepared them well. "The last trial at the Oaks really helped," stated Paige. "It was tight, technical, and big," added Danielle succinctly. "I liked that the riders had to go through the rigors of the trials, and because the last trial was modeled after this championship format they knew what had to happen."

Zone 10 enjoyed quite an enthusiastic cheering section, complete with placards that friends and family waved proudly. "It was really great hearing all of the cheers," said Paige. "And my teammates were so amazing. They kept telling me 'You're fine. You'll just come back.' When I jumped clean it felt so good." "We're really going to scream so loud," said Saer in anticipation of the Zone 10 Young Rider team later in the afternoon.

Final NAJYRC Team Results for Show Jumping Juniors:

• Gold Zone 10 16 4th Zones 1/3 39
• Silver Quebec CAN 25 5th Mexico 52
• Bronze Zone 2 35 6th Zone 8 62

At 3:00 p.m. the Young Riders took the ring with nine teams facing off for the medals. Of the nine teams, only two had the luxury of four riders and thus a drop score. Zones 2 and 10 had some cushion, the rest of the teams had no margin for error. Unfortunately Zones 4/5 and Mexico North both had their teams eliminated when their first riders were eliminated on course. And then there were seven...Zone 8 lost a rider in the third rotation which left six teams vying for medals.

This time the Zone 10 riders drew last in the order and they had the advantage of watching a few riders figure out the track. Megan Edrick led off the team and she posted a very solid eight fault round. Katie Harris rode in the second rotation and she is the least experienced member of the team. Despite some struggles, she made it through with a very decent 17 fault score. Aurora Griffin rocked the house when she posted the first of only two clear rounds. Suddenly Zone 10 looked very competitive. Karl Cook brought it home with a very solid four fault round.

After the first round, standings were as follows:

• Zone 10 12 Zones 1,3,7 38 Eliminated from teams:
• Zone 2 25 Ontario CAN 38 Zones 4,5 and Zone 8
• Alberta CAN 26 Mexico South 41 Mexico North

The second round got underway just before 5:00 p.m. Tnsion was keen, for a gold medal was on the line.

As is typical for this competition, many of the riders improved significantly. Perhaps nerves subside, and a trip around the course helps the second time. Megan led off for Zone 10 and posted a solid four fault trip. Katie improved on her score as well with just three rails. However, the Zone 10 team could not afford to rest on its laurels, because Zone 2, Mexico South, and Ontario teams were all rallying.

Aurora came in and rode a beautiful round and dropped the front rail of the final oxer. Yet, her four fault score kept Zone 10 in medal contention. The pressure was on Karl.

If ribbons were presented for just the second round, Mexico South would have been the clear winner with only 5 faults among their three riders. In the final rotation fortunes changed wildly. The Zone 2 anchor rider, Clementine Goutal, fell off and suddenly Zone 2 no longer had a team. Alberta, Canada was Silver, Mexico went from last to Bronze, and Zone 10 was Gold even without Karl's score. However, no one shared that news with Karl. "I kept the pressure on," said Butch Thomas. "Karl showed me he could handle it. These kids were awesome today." Just to prove their superiority, Karl rode a beautiful, clear round and the crowd went wild.

"This feels great," said Butch of Zone 10's double gold medals. "This is the best bunch of people and trainers. Everyone worked together. We've got a great bunch of junior riders here, and with the exception of Megan they are all young enough to do this again. Not only do we have a great bunch of juniors here, but we've got even more waiting at home." Zone 10 demonstrated its depth, and two of its rider, Karl Cook and Aurora Griffin, are leading the individual standings. Individual medals will be decided on Sunday morning.

Complete results are available on the NAJYRC website at: www.youngriders.org.