Equestrian Alums Postel ‘13, Hundley ‘18 Make Marks in Equine Community

A pair of Goucher College equestrian alumni have made a splash nationally recently, as Karli Postel '13 captured the WCHR Developing Pro Challenge Title, and Cary Hundley '18 was selected to participate in the 10th annual Lindsay Maxwell Charitable Fund/USHJA Emerging Athletes Program National Training Session.

Postel - who ended her Goucher career in 2013 by helping the Gophers achieve their best finish ever at the IHSA Nationals (a tie for fifth) after she finished as a runner-up in the jumping phase of the competition - won $5,000 with her victory in the WCHR Developing Pro Challenge.

Riding "Banksy" (who is owned by a client of Postel's at her barn named Grace Russo), Postel was awarded scores of 90.66 in the first round and 88.66 in the second for a total score of 179.32 to take the WCHR Developing Pro Challenge. At the end of the competition, Postel was awarded the Bittersweet Trophy, donated by Rachel Kennedy, along with her cash winnings.

"It's really exciting for me," said Postel. "I feel like I've worked really hard for the last two years for this goal. Last year, I came to my first Capital Challenge, and it didn't go quite as planned, so it was really cool to come back and be victorious. I had a really good first round and it made me really confident going into the second round."

For more on Postel's win in the WCHR Developing Pro Challenge, click here.

Hundley, meanwhile, is one of just 16 riders nationally to be selected National Training Session Riders. Olympic Gold Medalist Joe Fargis and renowned stable management expert Anne Thornbury will lead the session, which marks 10 years of educating and advancing the horsemanship of young equestrians, Nov. 8-11, 2018, at The University of Findlay in Findlay, Ohio.

Since the program's inception in 2009, the USHJA has reviewed more than 2,300 applications, provided more than 1,400 participants regional training session opportunities, and each year 16 athletes vie for the title of EAP Champion while training with an Olympian at the National Training Session. In 2018, 187 athletes participated in 10 Regional Training Sessions nationwide between the months of May and August.

For more on the training session, click here.

Hundley, who also serves as Goucher's stable manager, finished up her career last spring At the Cacchione Cup of the 2018 IHSA National Championships. There, she registered an eighth-place finish, as she went up against 24 high point riders from across the country.

Throughout the competition, Hundley made history for the Goucher program, as she became the first student-athlete to win a phase during the Cacchione Cup, taking the Flat Phase.
For more on the Goucher equestrian program, follow the Gophers on Instagram @goucherequestrian.

--GOPHERS--