Megan Young Finishes a Brilliant Junior Career With a Win in the 2004 ASPCA Maclay National Equitation Championship at the Metropolitan National Horse Show

New York, NY – November 7, 2004 – The title of National Champion was on the line Sunday afternoon, November 7, at Pier 94 at the Show Piers in New York City. At the end of this long day, one of the 104 riders entered in the 2004 ASPCA Maclay National Championship for the ASPCA Horsemanship Classes would emerge with that title.

Riders qualified for the finals by placing in regional competitions held throughout the United States earlier in the year. The first round of jumping action featured a challenging course designed by the judges for this year’s finals – Olympic course designer Linda Allen, former Maclay national champion Chrystine Tauber, and Scott Williamson. The course consisted of 14 jumping efforts including a double and a triple combination.

Following the first round of jumping action, the list of riders was trimmed to 74 and they returned to the ring in three groups to determine who would move on to the final round of competition.

The judges then narrowed the final field to 15 riders: 1 – Addison Phillips, New York, NY 2 – Catherine Wright, Old Chatham, NY 3 – Brianne Goutal, New York, NY 4 - Whitney Weeks, Wellington, FL 5 - Maria Schaub, Holmdel, NJ 6 – Kasey Ament – Reche Canyon, CA 7 – Megan Young, Jacksonville, FL 8 – Julie Welles, West Simsbury, CT 9 – Blythe Morano, Denville, NJ 10 – Daisy Johnson, New York, NY 11 – Nikko Ritter, Geneva, FL 12 – Jessica Speiser, Armonk, NY 13 – Nicole Adamson, Los Angeles, CA 14 – Morgan Taylor, Salinas, CA 15 – Ana Ousouljoglou, Bridgewater, NJ

The riders returned in reverse order and competed over a different course, this time consisting of 10 jumping efforts that included a double combinat