A beautiful day, filled with spectacular vaulting made the spectators the winners at the AHSA designated Team Selection Trial. AHSA Steward Graves Cox was impressed with the effort of the staff and management of the Portola Valley Training Center, in Menlo Park, California on April 30th. It was an excellent opportunity for up and coming vaulters to benefit from the expertise of the two FEI O judges, Adrianne Stang, chief judge and Jeff Ashton Moore at this Woodside Vaulters managed event and for spectators to view the top vaulters from the United States.

In the Individual Gold level competition, Devon Maitozo (Barronsgate), Erik Martonovich (Golden Gate) in the Men's Division and in the Women's, Kerith Lemon (Mt. Eden) and Mari Inyoue (Sundance) were the main competitors for the top spots. These four have been facing off for at least the past three years and it was no different at Sunday's event. The biggest change has been the reversal of positions in the Women's event. Inyoue's dramatic athleticism has captured the attention of the judges and Lemon is now playing the catch up game.

Devon Maitozo again set the pace in both rounds for the men, though final scores show the picture as Martonovich closes the gap with each competition. Here again it is two completely different styles of performance that gives the audience the best seat in the house. While Maitozo stayed in front the entire set of goes, it is Martonovich that gives the spectators, and the judges, something new to think about with each successive performance in Kür.

As for the rest of the pack, Pam Geisler continues to show her capabilities and Julie Keville, with some European experience under her belt, will be vaulters to watch the rest of the season to round out the placings. Brent Dahlgren and Kenny Geisler continue to push their limits to work their way up to the top in the Men's division.

The Team Selection Trials were the main event. The surprise jump from 1999 "C" Team Champions to "A" Team contenders by the Barronsgate Eight was the talk of the Internet vaulting forums, after their surprise win at Trials held earlier in the month in Southern California. When asked about the phenomenon, coach Devon Maitozo replied, "I am sure that people were surprised that we jumped from C team to the A team. I assume that people doubted we could pull it off, but I felt pretty good about our debut. I knew that we were more than capable of doing it, but I was by no means positive we would".

He also stated that his confidence was bolstered by the faith he had in the team horse and their longeur. With that, he said. "I am able to give all my trust and confidence in Carolyn [Bland] and Mozart, and the kids feel the same way. We would never have been able to advance so quickly without this combination."

The Woodside Team was not exactly the same one that went to Rome and came home with the Bronze Medal. The Woodside Trial was their first appearance on a borrowed horse, kindly loaned to them by the Panache Team from Watsonville, California. After only three practices on Cowboy Calvin, a Belgian, the performance lacked the confidence they usually presented. Some of the moves that were usually performed to such success on Toby were omitted due to the change.

Sundance performed quite well with less than two tenths of a point separating them from the Barronsgate team after the Compulsory round. It was the Kür round that separated the Barronsgate team from the rest. With continuous movement and innovative choreography it was difficult to tell where one move changed into another. It was a dance of interchanging partners, patterns and fluid movement. Attractive music enhanced the expression of the dance and when it was over, there was a standing ovation. It gave a new dimension to the team event and while the other teams put on the commanding performances expected of experienced teams, they never quite joined the same quality of movement exhibited by the Barronsgate Eight.

It is truly the spectators who win at these competitions.

The American Vaulting Association is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) educational organization dedicated to the promotion of Vaulting, an equestrian sport in which vaulters perform gymnastic movements on and in harmony with their equine partner.

Final Scores
TEAM
1 BARRONSGATE 7.592
2 SUNDANCE 7.329
3 WOODSIDE 7.070
4 MT EDEN 6.102

GOLD INDIVIDUAL WOMEN
1 Mari Inouye SUN 8.416
2 Kerith Lemon MTE 8.278
3 Pam Geisler BAR 8.043
4 Julie Keville TAM 7.375
5 Samantha Smith MTE 5.285

GOLD INDIVIDUAL MEN
1 Devon Maitozo BAR 8.467
2 Eric Martonovich GLG 8.337
3 Kenny Geisler DBC 7.644
4 Brent Dahlgren BAR 7.584
5 Martin Vavacek SUN 7.389
6 Stephan Czyzewski GLG 6.986
7 Eric Weber MTE 6.822
8 Peter Frola WDS 5.629

Media contact:
Jan Weber, Vice President of Development
(805) 494-4192 Fax (805) 379-0522 janaj40@aol.com