Teams from Texas, Canada, California, and New York all competed as well
The polo winners from the Southeastern Region, the Maryland Polo Club, won the 2014 USPA Girls’ National Interscholastic Championship, held March 6-9, 2014, this past Thursday through Sunday, at the University of Connecticut in Storrs, CT.
Coach Kelly Wells, Maddie Grant, Marissa Wells, Abbie Grant and Stephanie Shultz. Photo by Michael Ryan (www.mikeryan19photo.com).
Central Coast Polo Club and Maryland Polo Club played each other in the final on Sunday. Maryland was first to score, with an incredible lead of 7 to 1 in the first chukker. They continued that domination by finishing the first half at 18 to Central Coast’s 4. The game ended with a score of 34 to 8.
There were four All Stars of the championship – Marissa Wells and Maddie Grant from the Maryland Polo Club, Kendal Plank from the Houston Polo Club, and Julian Tietje from the Central Coast Polo Club. Kasandra Wohlschlegel from Western New York Polo Club was honored for her Sportsmanship, while Marissa Wells’ pony Napolean won for Best Playing Pony.
Teams:
Northeastern Regional Winner (Western New York Polo Club, Piffard, NY)
Kasandra Wohlschlegel, Sr. (Honeoye, NY, Honeoye Central School)
Hanna Blain, Jr. (Honeoye, NY, Honeoye Central School)
Molly Hickey (Caledonia, NY, Caledonia Mumford School)
Southeastern Regional Winner (Maryland Polo Club, Freeland, NY)
Abbie and Maddie Grant, Phoenix, MD (Bryn Mawr School)
Marissa Wells (Freeland, MD, Hereford High School)
Stephanie Schultz i(Freeland, MD, home schooled)
Central Regional Winner (Houston Regional Polo Center, Houston, TX)
Kendall Plank (Houston, TX, Episcopal High School)
Courtney Price (Richmond, TX, Foster High School)
Nora O’Neill (Houston, TX, St. Agnes Academy)
Lauren Rae (Houston, TX, The Kinkaid School)
Western Regional Winner (Central Coast Polo Center, San Luis Obispo, CA)
Jillian Tietje (Morro Bay, CA, San Luis Obispo High School)
Trista Noland (Atascadero, CA, North County Christian High School)
Emily Thomas (Santa Margarita, CA, Atascadero High School)
Athena Malin (Los Osos, CA, Mission Prep Junior High)
Wild Card Selection (Toronto Polo Club, Toronto, Canada)
Clare Hearn (Caledon, Ontario, Ridley College)
Molly Houlton (King City, Ontario, Cardinal Carter High School)
Jessica Friedberg (Aurora, Ontario, Aurora High School)
The annual event features top high school champion teams that have made their way to the big event through various preliminary and regional tournaments, going up against the best up-and-coming talents in U.S. polo. A Wild Card team from Toronto, Canada joined the champion high school girls’ teams from the Northeastern, Central, Western and Southeastern regions, the latter being the winner. Houston, Western New York and Central Coast Polo Clubs were all first timers to the Girls’ National Tournament.
The USPA National Interscholastic Championship tournaments are one of the centerpieces of the USPA Intercollegiate/Interscholastic (I/I) polo program. The I/I polo program’s mission is to help expand the sport in the U.S. See more information on the I/I polo program here on the U.S. Polo Association’s website, and follow updates by Liking theirFacebook Page.