Sophomore equestrian Bedell plays Superwoman

A nationally ranked equestrian, a member of the varsity women's squash team, a representative on Butler College Council and the Committee on Discipline, a tour guide and looking into the marines and ROTC.

Surprisingly, she is not Superwoman. It's all in a day's work for sophomore Zoe Bedell.

The No. 6 equestrian rider under 21 in the country and an "A" level Pony Club member, Bedell found herself competing this past weekend at the Radnor Hunt International Three Day event, a prestigious competition which sees a wide range of riders, including many Olympians.

"One thing that is unique about eventing," Bedell explained, "is that it's girls against guys. You compete against everyone. And once you get to the upper levels there's no distinction about divisions. So there were a lot of Olympians I was competing against."

Despite the heavy competition, Bedell and her horse, Bentley, finished 15th out of 90, an impressive accomplishment for such a young competitor. Bedell and Bentley competed at Radnor for the first time when Bedell turned 16 and was able to move into the more professional circuit. This was only their second time back at Radnor, and Bedell had some high expectations for the pair.

"There aren't a lot of people that age who are doing it," Bedell said. "Even the difference between 16 and 19 — there are a lot more people who are 19 now who are doing it, maybe for the first time, but it was nice to have that experience. There's less pressure because you're so young, and you're almost expected to screw things up.

"I expected things to be better [this year]. We did do better, but still we made mistakes. Stepping back from the whole thing and trying to de-stress I realized that we did a good job, and we improved a lot. Some of the fundamental problems that we had when we were younger had been worked out."

Three-day eventing, a combination of dressage, cross-country riding, and show jumping, tends to fall at the end of a season, the main competition seasons being fall and spring, with fitness trials and events leading up to it. Different competitions usually run every other weekend, with the weekends in between allowing for recuperation and additional training. Last spring, Bedell did not end in a three-day eventing competition, and this spring she hopes to move up to a three-star competition.

"To get to a three-star I would have to move up to the advanced level, which is the highest level in riding," Bedell said. "I've done some three-stars in the past, but I would need to do so consistently to move up a level. It would require a lot of training, so this spring I would probably be competing every other weekend and training in between."

A demanding routine, it is one to which Bedell has grown accustomed. This weekend will mark her first weekend since school began in which she will actually be on campus. Before Radnor, Bedell competed every other weekend and trained when she was not competing.

Though she keeps her horse 40 minutes away in Stockton, her trainer remains in her home state of Virginia, which meant that Bedell traveled home every weekend in which she was not competing to get additional training time in.

"Before Radnor I had to go out to the barn twice a day," Bedell said, "which got really intense because I had to go before my classes and I start classes at nine.

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"It's been a lot of driving, a lot of time awake, not a lot of work done. Radnor was pretty intense because you never get anything done and it's really exhausting, so now I'm trying to catch up before my midterms start."

As if Radnor and training for other competitions was not enough, now Bedell finds herself entering squash season. A sport that she began playing in eighth grade, Bedell decided to keep it up while at Princeton. It can be hard to fit in both sports, but Bedell has some leeway since squash and riding have different seasons.

"The girls on the team are so helpful," Bedell explained. "It was impossible for me to make it to practice for a lot of this first month and a half, and they were really nice about not being so strict with me when I couldn't get to captain's practice. It actually worked out conveniently because actual practice starts Friday. And now that I'm done with Radnor, Bentley and I will have a month off so I can focus on work."

Last year, Bedell was forced to take the first semester off from riding to make her schedule work and be able to play squash. This year, the hours will be a bit longer.

"I'll go to the barn maybe after practice and wind up being there late, until maybe 9:00 or 9:30," Bedell said. "It's not as important that you have the daylight hours. You can go out and hack or do fitness in the ring under lights. The fitness is what's really important about three-day eventing since the horses have to be that much fitter."

So why, amidst all of the commitments that she has made to riding, did Bedell decide to add varsity squash to her schedule and other extracurriculars as well?

"I missed a lot of extracurriculars [in high school], and I wanted to make sure that — because it's Princeton — I got involved in a lot of opportunities here.

"But squash was the main thing that I wanted to stay involved in, because it's a lot of fun, it's good exercise, and it's a good way to meet people."

Think fast — which sport does she like better, squash or riding?

"Well," Bedell laughed, "I'm going to have to go with riding. I began riding when I was nine, which is late, but I guess you can't do much when you're four anyway. My dad brought home a Saddle Club book one day, and I read the whole first one and said, 'Daddy, I want to take riding lessons!' Of course, my mom then said, 'Now look what you've done,' and little did she know. So now I've devoted half of my life to riding."

And in the three-day eventing, which event is Bedell's favorite?

"I would definitely have to say cross-country, because you can do dressage and show-jumping separately. But cross-country is what makes three-day eventing unique. And I've realized that I have a great obsession with fields. So now when things get really stressful I tell myself that I have to stick with the riding because I really like fields."

No matter how stressful her schedule may get she wouldn't stop riding. As Bedell admitted, "I couldn't sacrifice the horses!"