DeKALB | The NIU Equestrian team came off its best season ever by winning the 2007 Regional Equestrian Championship.

This marks the first year that NIU has had the best team in the region.

Though the team did not qualify for the national competition, team president and NIU sophomore Mike Lenard did.

Lenard was the high point rider during the season, which qualified him into the Individual Open Equitation Over Fences category at Nationals.

“Out of the 1,000 students that started in my division nationwide, they narrowed it down to the top 18 to compete at nationals,” Lenard said. “I finished eighth which is a pretty big accomplishment.”

Nationals, which took place in Springfield, Mass. this past weekend, was the high point of Lenard’s riding career thus far.

The team, though, is what makes this sport what it is.

The team must excel in all seven divisions in order to be a successful team. The individuals who do not ride for points are still able to place and knock out other competitors from receiving more points.

The NIU team competes in one of many types of shows. The NIU team travels to an area school, to which they are assigned at random a horse to ride in the show.

What makes it much more challenging is the competitor is not familiar with the horse.

Within the five divisions based on experience, the top two are judged on “equitation,” or how they ride, their form and their ability to control the horse.

All these factors are taken into consideration as the competitor rides around the ring and jumps over fences ranging from 2 feet, 9 inches to 3 feet, 3 inches.

NIU has played host to three different regular season events as well as the regional competition and the zone competition this year. The team’s home base is in St. Charles.

Nationally, there are about 30 different regions divided into nine zones. The NIU team placed third in its zone, just short from qualifying as a team to Nationals.

“In order to qualify for Nationals, we must be in the top two in our zone,” Lenard said. “This will be our goal for next year, as well as repeating as regional champions.”

Students interested in joining the NIU Equestrian team are encouraged to check out their Web site at http://www.sa.niu/edu/equestrian as well as attend an informational meeting in the fall.

The club team is open to anyone, but the showing team is up to the discretion of the coach. In addition to riding horses, the team also does a variety of social and service activities throughout the area.