North American League (NAL) Children's Hunter and Children's Jumper finals were decided today at the PA National Horse Show in Harrisburg. Rhian Davies of Anneville, PA took the jumper division with seconds to spare.

Twenty-five horses qualified and came to compete. Nine made it to the -time- first' jump-off and only four had clean rounds over the eight-effort course. Davies, on Gambit, clocked in and out in 31.415, out of 43 seconds permitted.

"The first round I wasn't nervous, I just wanted to have fun. I just wanted to do as well or better than I had in the Marshall & Sterling finals at Capitol Challenge," the 17-year-old admitted. She finished second there.

"I was psyched for the jump-off. I watched the first go and that's when my nerves kicked in. The fences were raised to 3'9" and there were some tricky turns. We had gone over the course several times. That was our plan."

Davies saved time by making very tight turns. "He hit every distance," she said happily. To win in only her second NAL final, Davies is thrilled. This is her second year riding Gambit, a 17-year-old German Warmblood. She is the first of Jerre Frankhouser students to win an NAL division final.

Second place honor belongs to Sarah Beth Spainhour of Camden, SC and her horse Leap of Faith. Their time in the jump-off was 4 seconds off Davies pace. Magic Rules and Claire Rozran were third. Jennifer Spinoso's round on Algebra added up to a fourth. Only four riders turned in clean jump-off rounds. The NAL Children's Hunter National Champion went to Flight Commander, a and Sloane Coles, a seventh grader at the Hill School in Middleburg, VA. Coles has had Flight Commander for two years and started training with Andre Dignelli's Heritage Stable just last winter. Flight Commander qualified early for the NAL final, winning two classes and placing in another on the Florida Sunshine circuit. This gave Cole a bit of breathing room to pursue her other sports interests. She is the leading scorer on her field hockey team. She plays lacrosse and does track, all that and an honor roll student who winters in Wellington FL from January through March.