Goucher Places Fifth at ANRC Championship

Goucher Places Fifth at ANRC Championship

Fink, McMahon Place 12th, 13th Overall Among 36 Riders

April 19, 2009

LAURINBURG, N.C. – With an aggregate team score of 158.633 points, Goucher finished in fifth place at the 32nd annual National Intercollegiate Riding Championships conducted by the American National Riding Commission here over the weekend.

The three riders who comprised Goucher's team were Julie Fink (Baltimore, Md./Garrison Forest School), Amory Brandt (Saratoga, Calif./Lynbrook) and Cady Klimas (Miami, Fl./Palmer Trinity). In addition, Claire McMahon (Kings Point, N.Y./Our Lady of Mercy Academy) and Chaz Kellogg (Pennington, N.J./Wellesley) represented Goucher at the event.

Individual riders contended in three phases: a dressage sportif, which is a program ride comprised of hunter seat equitation movements provided by the ANRC, a hunter trials equitation course over rolling terrain over cross country-type jumps, and a hunter seat equitation course in a ring.

There is also a written component covering riding theory and stable management, and Goucher placed first in this phase. Brandt earned a score of 97.000 in the written phase to finish in third place among the 36 riders.

The overall individual champion was Kelse Bonham from Savannah Art & Design with a score of 92.098 points. Goucher's top performers were Fink in 12th place with 78.837 points and McMahon in 13th with a score of 74.132. Brandt (15th place) and Klimas (20th place) both made the top 20 with scores of 72.296 and 69.294, respectively.

Savannah Art & Design successfull defended its title at this event, capturing the Betty Belser Memorial Trophy with a team score of 181.910 points. The runner-up was Centenary with 176.010 points; Sweet Briar (171.845 points) and St. Andrews Presbyterian (160.091) were the other two riding programs to finish ahead of Goucher. Sewanee (141.298), Otterbein (129.944) and Duke (93.618) followed in sixth, seventh and eight place, respectively.