Yesterday morning ominous, gray clouds loomed while the Penn State Equestrian Team prepared for their second Intercollegiate Horse Show of the year and hoped the rain would stave off.

"We're like the postal service," said member Kate Hammelef (freshman-business). "Rain, wind, sleet or snow. We're pretty tough."

The team won yesterday, beating eight competing schools. Penn State was named the champion team, and Franklin & Marshall University was the reserve champion.

In a ride-off between the three highest scoring riders of the night, Lauren Dowler (senior-animal science and international agriculture), Sarah Lepley (sophomore-division of undergraduate studies) and Andrew Olen, a Franklin & Marshall university junior majoring in economics and Spanish, competed to see who would be named champion of the day.

Olen ultimately won out with Dowler coming in as the reserve champion.

The Penn State team won its first show on Oct. 1, and last year was named Reserve Grand Champion of the Intercollegiate Horse Show Association (IHSA).

The team was excited to win a big event at their home stable.

"It gets pretty intense," Hammelef said. "This is our Michigan."

Each competitor is judged on his or her ability to control the horses while walking, trotting and cantering, and on the overall smoothness of the ride.

Although the team boasts a commendable record, coach Malinda Grice said the team's primary focus isn't winning.

"We take all the kids and have them ride their best and let the chips fall where they may," she said.

For some competitors, this meant a smooth ride on an easy-going horse.

Others, like Penn State's Katie Sheehan (sophomore-life sciences), weren't so lucky. After placing first in Class 3A on a mellow horse named Annie, Sheehan was put with AppleBee, a spunky horse with a misleadingly innocent tail braid.

Just before a jump, AppleBee braked, throwing Sheehan face first toward the post.

"It kind of scared me that my head was like right at the wall," she said, adding that she doesn't think AppleBee is a bad horse. "I think he was just very excited," she said.

In total, three riders were thrown from their horses during the event, which was a number that surprised some veteran riders. Elizabeth Gingrich, a Dickinson College rider, commented that three falls seemed like a lot.

"With the weather getting colder, the horses are a little friskier," she said.

The show was held at Eastwood Farms in Bellefonte, a riding stable owned and operated by David Flynn, who also coaches the team along with Grice and Dee Vonada.

The farm was packed with a crowd of about 100 riders and fans from eight colleges across Pennsylvania, including Penn State.

The event's coordinators also welcomed the chief executive officer and founder of the IHSA Bob Cacchione.

"My hat's off to every one of you," Cacchione said to the teams. "You have raised the bar again for the IHSA."

Cacchione founded the IHSA in 1967 when he began giving free riding lessons to students at his college in exchange for the opportunity to ride horses.

After word spread, the college then soon hired him as a staff member.

Cacchione said today more than 320 colleges in 30 regions and more than 7,500 riders are part of the IHSA.

In May, Penn State will attend the national championships in Springfield, Mass.