Goucher Equestrian Finishes Fifth In Highly Competitive Field At Winter Classic I Tournament Of Champions

AVANNAH, Ga. – Cole Jackson (Denver, Colo./East) was named reserved champion low collegiate medal and Adeline Callihan (Keane, N.H./Making Community Connections Charter) earned the lone first-place finish to power Goucher College equestrian to a fifth-place standing in a highly competitive field at the Winter Classic I Tournament of Champions on Saturday.

Jackson finished second in the intermediate fences and fifth in intermediate flat and earned reserve champion low collegiate medal. Callihan won the novice flat and finished fifth and received the low collegiate medal.

Eunoh Lee (Seoul, South Korea/South Kent) finished second In the introductory flat, Makaylin Shoop (Davidsonville, Md./South River) was third in the limit flat while Jordan Bell (Friendship, Md./Southern) placed fifth in the open fences.

Goucher finished fifth in this highly competitive invite only tournament. Teams are invited to this tournament because they won their region and most of these teams were at the national championship last year.

Savannah Art & Design, who is a six-time tournament series champion and has finished in the top two at the national championships five year in a row, took first with its "A" team thanks to 50 points while its "B" team took second after ending one point behind the "A" team. The University of Massachusetts finished third with 32 points while Mount Holyoke "A" team, who is an 11-time region champion and a three-time national champion, placed fourth with 30 points.

The Gophers, who are going for their 11th-straight IHSA Zone IV Region I title and has had four individual national champions, placed fifth with 25 points. Goucher finished ahead of Otterbein University (23 points), who was its region champion and placed sixth last year at the national championships. Boston University (21 points) placed seventh after winning its region in 2019 while finishing fourth at the national championships in 2018. The Terriers tied Bridgewater College of Virginia in points, but won the tiebreaker. Penn State University, a 14-time region champion and had a strong seventh-place finish at the 2019 national championships, Rutgers University, who won its region title last year and is currently leading this year, along with Illinois State, the University of Connecticut, University of Rhode Island and the University of South Carolina also competed in the event.

IHSA competition is broken up into five categories based on experience. The Open division has the most experienced rider, while intermediate is No. 2, limit is No. 3, novice is No. 4 and introductory equitation is No. 5. The top three categories include two sub-sections; the "flat" which is a pattern that does not include jumping, and a fences section. In addition, when teams are on the road they are using the horses at the home stable. The riders are judged on their ability to adapt, communicate, and perform with an unfamiliar horse. If you are familiar with equestrian terms and not a novice to the sport, IHSA changed the names for the classes of the bottom three classes over summer (walk trot was switched to introductory equitation, walk trot canter became novice and novice became limit).

Goucher returns to action at the Maryland/American IHSA Show on March 8. Last year at this show, the Gophers claimed their 10th-straight Zone IV Region I title.