St. Andrews Presbyterian College (Laurinburg, NC) edged out Centenary College (Hackettstown, NJ) to claim the team championship at the 30th Annual ANRC National Intercollegiate Riding Championship on April 21-22, 2007. St. Andrews finished with 161.30 points, compared to Centenary’s 160.73. Goucher College (Maryland) was a close third, with 159.29. Defending champions, Savannah College of Art and Design (Georgia), settled into fourth place.

Centenary rider Eleanor Kunsman won the overall individual championship, while Jonathan Cohen of Goucher was named the reserve champion. SCAD’s Meredith Gallagher rode to third place overall.

Hosted by Centenary College, the three-phase event drew 31 riders from eight schools. St. Andrews led the competition after the first phase, the dressage sportif, and finished a solid second place team in the hunter seat equitation phase. Although the team managed only a fifth place in the third and final phase, the hunter trials, the students’ strong early rides allowed them to maintain their first place position throughout two days of competition.

The American National Riding Commission’s national championship is a U.S. Equestrian Federation-sanctioned event. The championship showcases the American forward riding system and the sporting horse. Judged on equitation, it rewards diversified skills in a three-phase competition. Competitors complete a dressage sportif ride, an outdoor hunter trials course and a USEF Medal-type hunter seat equitation course. Riders ride the same horse throughout the competition, and jumps do not exceed three feet in height. They also sit for a written test on riding theory and equine science. This year the competition allowed teams of three riders rather than four, with one score being dropped.

Pam Hunt of Haverhill, MA, and Diane Braun of Jim Thorpe, PA, judged the riding phases of competition, while Marion Lee of Leesburg, VA, judged the written phase.

For more information, please visit: www.anrc.org.

Pam Whitfield

ENDS
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