TOUCHDOWN Goucher Equestrian!: Gophers Blue And Gold Teams Continue To Lead The Way At The ANRC Take It Forward Team Tournament

BALTIMORE, Md. – Baltimore football fans are used to hearing TOUCHDOWN RAVENS and the Goucher College equestrian team took a play from the Ravens playbook in the ANRC Take It Forward Team Tournament November Touchdown. Noelle Gulley (Eldersburg, Md./Century) and Kristen Wilhelm (Columbia, Md./Liberty) each won an event to put the "hay in the barn" for the Gophers Blue Team while Makaylin Shoop (Davidsonville, Md./South River) won a pair of events to power the Gophers Gold Team to second place. The Gophers Blue and Gold Teams are the Top-2 teams going into the Tournament Finale at the end of November.  

Gulley won the open flat and finished third in the open fences while Wilhelm won the novice flat for the second time in the tournament after also taking first in the classification in the September Kickoff. Shoop repeated as the top rider in the limit flat and the limit fences thanks to wins in both the October Turnover and the November Touchdown.

It is the second time that the Gophers Blue Team has won the team competition after winning the September Kickoff. The Gophers Gold Team, who was victorious in the October Turnover, finished second in both the September Kickoff and the November Touchdown.

Jacob Connell (Ellicott City, Md./Mount Hebron), who won the limit fences in the first event of the year, finished second in the limit fences and third in the limit flat to help the Gophers Blue Team to the November team title.

Kellen Sullivan (Hampton, Va./Bethel) placed third in the open flat and fifth in open fences while Lexi Mason (Lothian, Md./Southern) was fifth in the novice flat for the Gophers Gold Team.

The Gophers Blue Team will go into the Tournament Finale with 46 points, six points ahead of the Gophers Gold Team (40 points). Randolph-Macon (38 points), Florida State Equestrian Club (31 points), University of the South (30 points), St. Andrews Blue (22 points), St. Andrews Knights (15 points), Virginia Tech Hokie (10 points), UVA Navy (8 points), UVA Orange (5 points) and  St. Andrews White (5 points) will also compete in the Tournament Finale.

Unlike the previous three tournaments, the lowest score will not be dropped in the final event scoring. Points in the Tournament Finale will be added to the team cumulative score from the previous three tournaments to determine the winner. Videos are due by November 20 and judging begins on November 22 for the Tournament Finale. 

The ANRC Take it Forward College Team Tournament is a virtual team competition open to any college or university that offers a four-year or two-year degree program. A participating school may create one or more teams with students currently enrolled in their school. Each team competes in the following classifications: novice flat, limit flat, limit fences, open/intermediate flat, and open/intermediate fences. 

Flannery Supplee (Monkton, Md./Hereford), Claire Edwards (Kailua, Hawaii/Le Jardin Academy) and Kaitlin Honkofsky (Baltimore, Md./Patapsco) are competing in the ANRC Freestyle Challenge. The final round of the event is due by November 13 and judging begins on November 14.