NORTH SALEM, N.Y.--The Zone 2 Young Riders team scored a remarkable victory in the USHJA North American Young Rider Show Jumping Team Championship, held at Old Salem Farm in North Salem, N.Y., on August 3.

The team of Katherine Strauss, 19 of New York City, N.Y., Madison Goetzmann , 18 of Skaneateles, N.Y., Samantha Cohen, 17 of New York City and Ailish Cunniffe, 21 of South Salem, N.Y., finished on a score of 9.80, more than 20 points ahead of the silver-medal Zone 10 team and the Mexican team that took bronze.  

This was the 11th time that Zone 2 has claimed Young Rider team gold, and in doing so this year In doing so, they secured the United States a spot in the inaugural FEI Youth Nations Cup Final, which will be held in Opglabbeek, Belgium, from Sept. 6-9.

"To win a gold medal for this team is definitely incredible because we had such great team spirit and have grown up together," said Goetzmann, who jumped two clean rounds on her own Prestigious in the Team Final. "It's such an amazing experience just being here and being able to add this medal to our and Zone 2's list of accomplishments. And we really owe this gold medal to Ralph Caristo, who has been the most incredible chef for so many years for Zone 2. We're all grateful for it."

 

A NEW format this year for the Junior and Young Rider divisions at NAYC meant that scores from the Individual Qualifying round carried forward into today's two-round Team Final.

The Zone 2 team had a slim lead heading into the Team Final.

"We all had a good day yesterday, so we came into today on top, but not with too much wiggle room," said Strauss, who rode her All In to a clear first round and 16 faults in Round 2. "We all had a great first round, and in the second round they all really took the pressure off me,"

"I'm so fortunate to have the ride on him," Strauss said. "He's taken me from just getting started in the junior jumpers to jumping some bigger grand prix. He's really proven himself at the U25 level. He's won at Spruce Meadows, Europe, anywhere he goes. He's a bit of a blood horse, but that's good for championships like this where we ask our horses to jump a lot of rounds."

Cohen added a clean round aond a second with four faults to help Zone 2 to gold.

"She's been more than I could ever imagine," she said of her Carmen. "I started in the junior jumpers with her and we've slowly worked our way up to jump some bigger classes. She's always right there for me and she has the biggest heart and always tries for me. She's really a horse of a lifetime."

Cunniffe  also earned gold last year with the Zone 2 show jumping team riding Baloucento.

"Being on Zone 2 is an honor and I'm lucky to be with these girls; they're some of my best friends," she said. "It means so much to me to not only be able to compete against them, because we do that every week, but also to compete with them on a team; it's an amazing experience."

While Zone 2's dominance made the gold medal theirs, there was a heated battle in Round 2 for the silver, and Zone 10 prevailed.

The Mexican team was the first to medal in the Young Rider division at NAYC since 2008, when they claimed silver.