Juniors and Amateurs Compete for Medals at USHJA Zones 9 & 10 Jumper Team Championships

Thermal, Calif.—November 9, 2019—Two heights, 1.20/1.25m and 1.30/1.35m, and four divisions of Juniors and Amateurs competed in the USHJA Zones 9 & 10 Jumper Team Championships on a sunny and bright Friday at the Desert International Horse Park in Thermal, California. With a split between Juniors and Amateurs, twelve teams stepped onto the podium by the end of the day.

The Team Competition is a two-round modified Nation’s Cup format, which also serves as the second and third individual qualifying classes for Sunday’s Individual Final.

The 1.20/1.25m Juniors completed the two-round championship with three teams tied at eight total faults. Each chef d'equipe selected one rider to jump off and ultimately Katie Kehring from Zone 10 Team 4, led by Sloan Elmassian, rode clean and fast to help her team claim the gold medal. Zone 10 Team 2's Ray Texel also finished fault free in the jump-off, crossing the timers only one-tenth of a second behind the gold medalists to finish in silver position. Zone 10 Team 3, led by Dale Harvey, had the time but picked up four faults in the jump-off to take bronze.

Zone 10 Team 4 topped the podium in the gold medal position in the 1.20/1.25m Junior Team Championship. Photo: Tori Bilas/USHJA

The 1.20/1.25m Amateur Team Championship was strongly secured after the two rounds by Zone 10 Team 5, whose final total was only four faults. Behind them in silver position was Zone 9 Team 2 on a score of 10 total faults, with Zone 10 Team 4 taking bronze.

When asked about the experience of riding for a team, Gold Medalist Alison Locke, who had never competed in this format before, said, “It’s way more pressure than riding individually—way more—so just getting through that and having it come out a success just means the emotion is so much higher.”

Though the horses have a rest day tomorrow before continuing on to Sunday’s Individual Final, gold medalist Cathy Nicastro’s equine partner, Zero Gravity, will be competing in the leadline. She said without a doubt, it's "his favorite thing to do."

Zone 10 Team 5 earned the gold medal in the 1.20/1.25 Amateur Team Championships. Photo: Tori Bilas/USHJA

The Juniors went first in the 1.30/1.35m division. It was Olympic Gold Medalist Will Simpson's Zone 10 Team 2 who took the top honors and the gold medal on a score of 16 faults. The combined Zone 9 & 10 Team took silver and Zone 10 Team 3 earned bronze.

Continuing along the athlete pathway, all four gold medal team members had participated in last year’s 1.20/1.25m Zone Jumper Team Championships.

Trent McGee had more confidence coming into this year’s Championships saying, “I thought it was a really special team... These are some amazing teammates here, and it’s special being on a team and having that experience.”

Zone 10 Team 2, led by Chef d'Equipe Will Simpson, earned gold in the 1.30/1.35m Junior Team Championship. Photo: Tori Bilas/USHJA

The full day of Team Competition came to a close with Zone 10 taking the gold medal in the 1.30/1.35m Amateur division. On the winning team were two former Zone Jumper Team Championship participants and one team member, Lauren Whitlock, who came from an eventing background and took seven years off riding before making her comeback in the jumpers.

Whitlock said of her experience as a first-timer, " I work full time and it’s fun to have this opportunity. I had been on teams when I was eventing, so I think it’s really neat that [the USHJA] offers this for amateurs."

Zone 10 captured the gold medal in the 1.30/1.35m Amateur Team Championship. Photo: Tori Bilas/USHJA

1.20/1.25m Junior Zone Jumper Team Results

GOLD: Zone 10 Team 4 (Sloan Elmassian)