In shocking news today, Skidmore College has landed their first ever 5-Star recruit for the Equestrian Team. Known for her prowess in dressage, Madison (“Maddie”) Harris announced her intentions to attend Skidmore College at a ceremony held at her high school in Leicester, MA this morning. This news came as a massive surprise to Skidmore’s coaching staff.
Up until this morning, the pundits had speculated that Harris would attend Baylor University, who recently garnered the #1 seat in the NCEA Championship, conveniently held in Waco, TX. With the exception of Baylor, Harris was expected to at least attend a school much larger than Skidmore, where she would be able to ride with some of the best in the country. Schools like Auburn University, University of South Carolina, and Texas Christian University have been lining up outside of Harris’ door since she was a freshman in high school in hopes of eventually convincing her and her family to choose their school.
Skidmore College, led by Head Coach Cindy Ford, arrived late on the scene. Harris had visited Skidmore with one of her friends last summer while they were in town for the Travers. Upon her arrival on campus, Assistant Director of Admissions Sanil Patel raced over to Harris’ car to greet her. Because of his love for the equestrian sport, Patel knew exactly who Maddie Harris was, and he was eager to show her around Skidmore in the lovely summertime. After her tour of campus, Harris and Patel chatted for an hour or so about why Skidmore would be a perfect fit for Harris, not only academically, but also for our riding team.
Harris and Patel had not spoken since that meeting, and he was anxiously awaiting Harris’ commitment announcement this morning. He bit off all his fingernails because he was so nervously awaiting the news. Harris had easily been accepted into Skidmore with her 3.99 unweighted GPA and her 1590 SAT score. Her presence on our Equestrian Team would have been historic.
So, at 9:05am on Friday March 31st, 2017, Harris took to the stage at Leicester High School. Hats from all around the country on the table were in front of her, but Skidmore’s was not one of them. After a short speech, Harris knocked all the hats off the table and unzipped her hoodie to reveal a Skidmore College Vineyard Vines long-sleeve shirt--the ones that they charge nearly the equivalent of a semester’s tuition in the bookstore before yelling “CTM!!!”
The entirety of Skidmore erupted upon the announcement. Most students were just excited because their friends were excited. The friends were excited because their friends were excited. This was a long chain of excitement all leading to the overly exuberant Equestrian team. Since most of Skidmore has no clue that we even recruit for athletics, or even what a 5-star athlete means, people were confused at first when they were told why the Equestrian team was so excited. However, their confusion was soon gone as they decided they had better things to do than to think about “athletic competitions and athletes,” who are seen as “weird” here at Skidmore.