P O L O D E V E L O P M E N T, L L C
NYTS Champions Eastern region overcomes Wild Card team By United States Polo Association • Photos by Kaile Roos
Blue’s Taylor Olcott rides in stride with Yellow’s Sophia DeAngelis.
Las Brisas, Morgan Creek, Oak Brook and Due West Polo Clubs, along with the Chicago Polo Association welcomed 32 youth players from across the United States and Canada to compete in the headline NYTS National Championship event. Since the program’s inception in 2013, the NYTS National Championship doubled in size. This year, for the first time, four open teams and four girls’ teams participated. The competitors hailed from 22 USPA clubs, representing many regions, riding backgrounds and polo experiences. Each team from the Open division was paired with a Girls’ division team, encouraging new friendships and a broader learning experience. Team coaches included former 7-goal player Tiger Kneece, and three current 4-goal American players (Marcos Alberdi, Patrick Uretz, Ulysses Escapite) that regularly compete at the highest levels of professional polo in the United States. Kneece coached his teams to victory in both the Cecil Smith Cup and the Girls’ Championship. The Chicago polo community provided fantastic venues throughout the week for the numerous scheduled games and events. Cecil Smith Cup Semifinal matches began with the Eastern Region (Sophie Grant, Aiden Meeker, Winston Painter, Landen Eckbo Daniels) earning a decisive victory over the Central Region team (Grace Mudra, Lily Lequerica, Will Mudra, Lance Stefanakis), 172½, to advance to the final. Stefanakis was unable to attend the event so his position was covered by Summer Kneece and twins Reagan and Robyn Leitner. The next match was much closer with the Wild Card team (Daniel Miranda, Josh Escapite, Taylor Palacios, Vlad Tarashansky), narrowly defeating the Western Region team (Quinn Kyle, Riley Jordan, Piers Bossom, Will Schneider), 4½-4. In the final, the Wild Card team doubled down on defense to control Eastern’s notorious offense.
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