Lucy Deslauriers and Hester (Al Cook Photo)

Harrisburg, Pa. – The 2014 Randolph College/USEF National Junior Jumper Championship kicked off Thursday evening at the Pennsylvania National Horse Show with Phase I of competition, the Speed Leg, as efficiency and tidy jumping were the name of the game in the faults converted class. As the final competitor of the evening, Lucy Deslauriers outran the field of 32 that went to task over Michel Vaillancourt’s 1.40m track to hold the early lead in the Individual standings.

Deslauriers of Zone 2 has brought her Individual Silver medalist from this summer’s Adequan/FEI North American Junior & Young Rider Championships presented by Gotham North, Lisa Deslaurier’s nine-year-old Belgian Warmblood gelding Hester, to Harrisburg and the pair look poised to add another accolade to their resume. They finished a full two seconds ahead of the second-place finshers after jumping clear and stopping the clock in a time of 59.839.

Collecting second place honors on Thursday was Zone 6’s Emily Sheveland and her own nine-year-old Holsteiner mare Lyla after stopping the timers in 62.464 seconds in a clear effort. While Third place went to Zone 8’s Kelli Cruciotti and her own 13-year-old Swedish Warmblood mare Chamonix H, who also jumped clear and stopped the clock in 65.004.

Competition continues on Friday as Team medals are decided following two rounds of Nations Cup jumping.

All rounds from the 2014 Pennsylvania National Horse Show will be live streamed on the USEF Network and can be viewed here.

To learn more about the 2014 Pennsylvania National Horse Show, visit: http://www.panational.org/.