Bublitz Scores Best In CVI1* At Kentucky Cup Vaulting

 

Lexington, Ky., Aug. 1 – Rachel Bublitz, of Golden, Colo., emphatically won the CV1* women’s division at the Kentucky Cup Vaulting this afternoon, earning the top scores in both the morning’s compulsory round (7.073) and in the afternoon’s freestyle round (6.819).

 Bublitz’ overall score of 6.895 kept Kyra McCarty of San Mateo, Calif., in second (6.573) and Kathryn Jaggers, of Portola Valley, Calif., in third (6.508).

 Bublitz, 16, of the Golden Gate Vaulters, presented a strong but elegant performance, with some daring movements that outweighed a slight mistake on one pose and her horse, Oliver, breaking to the trot for several strides. She used music by Doris Day for her freestyle.

“I wasn’t sure I’d won by the time I finished, because of those bobbles,” admitted Bublitz.

 Josef Martonovich, her longer, said that Bublitz’ personality overcame the minor mistakes. “It was her experience and her cool head that won. It was my mistake that the horse broke to the trot, but she just stayed quiet to let him canter again,” said Martonovich.

 He also thought Bublitz performed a more difficult test than most of her competitors, meaning she earned high marks for degree of difficulty. “She’s pushing the edge, and I think that balances it out if there are little mistakes,” he added.

 McCarty, 17, vaulted with Vermeer, a relatively new horse on the Mt. Eden Vaulting Team, longed by Jessica Ballenger.  Her performance was bold and assured and earned the second-highest freestyle score (6.504).  McCarty also earned the second-highest score in today’s compulsory round (6.947).

 She said she chose a slow piece of classical music for her freestyle because “it gives me a chance to present myself well, and this time every single move worked. It was the best it’s been all year, so I didn’t really care about the score or the placing because of that.”

 Jaggers, 15, a member of the Woodside Vaulters, used an instrumental version of the Rolling Stones classic “Brown Sugar.” Her mount was Pepper Jack, longed by Jennifer Arntsen. Pepper Jack also carried Yvonne Greenen to fourth place and Grace Koz to fifth place.

 ”I’d used Latin and other types of music before, and this year I decided to try something new, and it was really fun,” said Jaggers.

 Joey Gadd, of the Mt. Eden Vaulters, easily held on to the lead he grabbed in the first round of compulsories, decisively winning the men’s one-star freestyle (5.893) to coast to the overall victory (5.843) over Shawn Ricci (5.524) and Clay Thomas (5.318).