Pacific Northwest Polo at its Best

By Susan Stovall

Newly elected USPA Governor Rob Petersen and outgoing Governor George Dill, hosted one of the largest tournaments in the PNW.  It was held at the La Conner Polo Club on July 25 and 26th, 2015.  The field is located by the charming beach town of La Conner on the Puget Sound just north of Seattle.  Fourteen teams – 4 flights – played 2 days of  fast-paced action and the finals of the Governor’s Cup for the Circuit. Several players from out of the circuit came to play including Peter Wright from New Zealand, Pete Laughlin and Lucas Reid fromCalifornia, Marlon Pimienta from Marana, AZ and Lindsey Joseph from Las Vegas. Canadian players Claudia and Tony Tornquist as well as Mike and Dan Adey and Murray Farmer made the special trip from north of the border. All players had 2 tournament games working their way to the Finals of each flight.   USPA certified umpires – Dan Harrison and Robert Lin Ke Chow  – controlled the play.  Gratia Brown, assistant  polo manager at Empire, organized the games and teams. A dinner party on Saturday night was again hosted by the two Governor’s for all as well as many of the guests with fresh salmon caught that day.

Each of the flights were awarded trophies provided by the hosts.  All players in this Flight IV were awarded trophies which is a great way to begin your polo career.

Flight III – the Zero goal  was won by  Annie and Glen Sellers, Claudia Tornquist, Marlon Pimienta and Mackensie Siderloff defeated Black Sanitation with Dan and Mike Adey and Scott and Trish Robertson.

Flight II –  – 2 Goal Flight with 5 teams was won by Rainier Polo – Lucas Reid, Ryan Prather, Jason Larvik, Cheryl Sick and Sara Perkins over JDK Ranch – Nancy Alcott, Mason Sideroff, Brandon Alcott and Sayge Ellington.

The USPA Governor’s Cup had 5 teams entered.   The Finals had the Seattle Polo Club team of Cameron Smith, Ramon Castilla, Bautista Micheletti and Bobbie Anderson-Brush against the Le Grande Polo team of Lindsey Joseph, Lucas Reid, Jason Larvik and Ryan Prather.  Play was competitive and traded goal for goal the first 2 chukkers of the 4 chukker match. After that the Seattle Polo Team seemed to click and went on to win 8 to 4.  Best playing pony was awarded to Cameron Smith’s – Dream.

Twenty seven chukkers were played each day on the one polo field  -making it one of the biggest tournaments in the Pacific Northwest.  The goal for the tournament was “something for everyone.”  That is exactly what Petersen and Dill accomplished.