Gold Medal for the zone 4/7 at the NAJYRC

The first medals for team show jumping were presented today at the Adequan®/FEI North American Junior & Young Rider Championships presented by Gotham North (NAJYRC) hosted at The Colorado Horse Park (CHP), as riders participating on the combined Zone 4/7 Team secured victory in the USHJA North American Junior & Young Rider Show Jumping Championships Young Rider Team competition. Adjacent to the show jumping featured in the International Ring, riders representing Region 3 rose to the top of USDF North American Junior & Young Rider Dressage Championships Junior Team Test competition, hoisting Gold medals in the Olson Ring. Carlos Guerrerio competing for the Mexico North team, sealed a strong victory in the USHJA North American Junior & Young Rider Show Jumping Championships Junior First Round Individual Qualifier aboard Santos, while Elena Hengel of Area III piloted Zipp to first place in individual competition following dressage competition on the first day of the USEA North American Junior & Young Rider Championships CIC 2*.

A strong team of riders combined to represent both Zone 4 and Zone 7, catapulted themselves to the top of the leaderboard, taking top honors in the USHJA North American Junior & Young Rider Show Jumping Championships Young Rider Team competition. The Zone 4/7 Team of Hannah Donald (18, Highland Village, TX), Alexandra Ozymy (18, Coppell, TX), Nicole Peterson (20, Dallas, TX) and Sophie Simpson (18, Wellington, FL) finished the two round competition with 0 combined faults to secure the victory ahead of the team representing Zone 3/8/9, who concluded competition with 4 faults and featured riders Delaney Flynn (16, Scottsdale, AZ), Jennifer Gates (20, Seattle, WA), and Christina Firestone (21, Upperville, VA).

The Bronze medal team of Zone 10 saw riders Mackenzie Drazan (21, Woodside, CA), Hannah Heidegger (19, Chatsworth, CA), Chandler Meadows (20, Newport Beach, CA) and Uma O’Neill (21, Santa Cruz, CA) earn a third place finish with a combined total of 12 faults.

The Zone 4/7 Team, led by dual Chef d’Equipes Kim Land and Matt Cyphert, finished with 0 faults around the Manuel Esparza (MEX) designed track, as Peterson, Ozymy, and Simpson each completed with a double clear effort in both portions of competition. Donald and Hector were eliminated, but as the single lowest score is dropped, Zone 4/7 stayed within striking distance of the win. The pressure was placed on Simpson, who earned a Gold medal in the Junior team competition last year, as she and Why Not were the final combination on course for the Zone 4/7 Team.