The 2011-2012 equestrian season has officially ended after the team placed eighth out of a total of 32 teams in Zone 3, which includes teams ranging from Pennsylvania to South Carolina. Zones were held on Saturday, Feb. 25 and Sunday, Feb. 26 at Garrison Forest School.

Zone 3 grew to a large amount of teams, forcing a split into two separate regions. At regionals, teams had to compete individually and as a team to qualify for zones. The JC equestrian team had riders for both competitions.

The riders of the school’s equestrian team mainly compete against club teams who pick and choose their riders from their area. This makes JC’s selection more limited due to the small group of freshman equestrians.

Placing eighth out of 32 teams, the equestrian team did not qualify for Nationals, as only the top two teams qualify. However, this placement is still an improvement from last season’s rank of ninth. Senior Heather Scampton, carried the team with a second place over fences and a third place in the flat class. It was her points alone that gave the JC equestrian team their eighth place.

Next season, the equestrian program will be losing several seniors to graduation, including Heather Scampton, Kelsey Lebuhn, Adrienne Clark, Emily Jefferson, and Megan Foard. With the loss of those seniors, the team will be gaining some new freshman that may have the ability to ride varsity.

Megan Foard is a Multimedia Editor for The Patriot and jcpatriot.com.