From Glen Gardner, New Jersey, Virginia Intermont College senior Andrea MacQueen
(pictured) won her intermediate flat class at the 2011 Winter Tournament of Champions on January 29th.
Though MacQueen was the only VI rider to win a blue ribbon, the entire team won a blue by virtue of
outscoring the other 20 teams in attendance.
VIRGINIA INTERMONT COLLEGE WINS COMFORTABLY BY TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONS STANDARDS
(Xavier University of Ohio Head Coach Jim Arrigon - who came up with
idea for the Tournament of Champions series while coaching at Miami of
Ohio and who has held Tournament shows since 1992 with the help of
wife Gwen - wrote a press release following the Winter Tournament of
Champions invitational event hosted by the Chatham Hall School in
Chatham, Virginia on January 29th. His press release is repeated here
with some minor changes as well as a 'Bonus Coverage' paragraph at the
end - Editor.)
Chatham, VA - The most highly decorated collegiate equestrian team
of the past decade had been in a bit of a slump. Virginia Intermont
College has won more IHSA Nationals than anyone in the 21st century
and they’ve displayed the Tournament of Champions Series Champion
Trophy on campus seven times during that period, but they had not won
a Tournament of Champions show since December 2008. VI struck back
at the Tournament of Champions Winter Classic horse show on January
29th. With five second places and a third VI was the picture of
consistency, with their only blue ribbon winner being Andrea MacQueen
in the intermediate flat class. Their point total of 36 made VI the
easy winner, and was enough to propel them into the lead for 2010-11
Tournament Series Champion Team as well.
The field of teams for this Winter Classic was probably one of the
most competitive ever, demonstrated with twelve different teams on
the scoreboard in the first two classes. By the time Annelise
Wilhite of South Carolina won the second section of Open Fences
nearly every team present was on the scoreboard.
Delaware Valley was the other consistent team - with two blue
ribbons and four reds - but two zeros and a green ribbon left a gap
too large for the Aggies to overcome. Interestingly Delaware Valley
open rider Ciara Menkens went on win the Tournament of Champions
Medal division despite managing only a single point in two open team
classes. Late in the day the Aggies got consecutive blue ribbons
from Chelsea Koerper in Novice Fences and Melissa Milligan in
Walk-Trot to streak towards the top of the pack after lingering back
most of the day. Nineteen points in their final three classes was
enough to launch Del Val to Reserve Champion with 30 points, an
effort strong enough to earn them Series Reserve Champion honors as
well. The Aggies had previously won the December Holiday Tournament
of Champions event by a point over St. Andrews Presbyterian College.
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We admit it. This photo of Ciara Menkens was in fact taken at the October 10th Bucks County
Community College show and not at the Winter Tournament (likewise the photo of MacQueen is from the Pre-season
Tournament). Nevertheless the Delaware Valley College sophomore from Brick Township, New Jersey was best in a
field of 22 riders to win the Medal division. The Medal class is held at tournament events in lieu of a
ride-off for high point. |
St. Andrews started strong again, and by midday the Knights
looked like they would stay with VI. However a slow finish
combined with Del Val's late run and VI's consistant effort sent St.
Andrews to third Place. Mount Holyoke finished strong with 11
points in the final two classes. The Lyons claimed fifth place via
a tiebreaker over another perennially strong finisher, Virginia
Tech. The Hokies, which had won the Tournament series trophy last
season, would finish fourth over three tournament events behind VI,
Del Val and St. Andrews. Lynchburg College rounded out the field of
underachievers, finishing back in the pack with an
uncharacteristically mediocre performance. The Hokies and Hornets
had come into the weekend in first and third place, respectively,
for the Series Championship. With 14 of the 21 teams entered
currently leading their regions the day was assured to prove
frustrating for many.
The big surprise was West Virginia University, whose 25 points
were enough to earn fourth Place for the Mountaineers. West
Virginia was paced by Miranda Cain’s early open fences win and Kait
Scott’s blue ribbon late in the day in novice fences. The
Mountaineers had surprised many with a seventh place finish at the
Tournament of Champions PreSeason Classic at Goucher College on
September 26th.
The other surprisingly strong performance came from the
the University of New Hampshire. Competing in their second
consecutive tournament event (and fourth since December 2009) the
Wildcats scored 20 points and took home their first-ever Tournament
of Champions team ribbon (seventh place). Rounding out the top
eight was the University of Mary Washington, who followed up their
Champion performance at the Tournament of Champions Preseason
Classic in September with eighth place at the Chatham Hall school
today.
Virginia Intermont Head Coach Eddie Federwisch’s New Year’s
resolution was to turn up the heat on his team in 2011 and it paid
dividends in the first month of this new year. Intermont took the
Series Champion trophy home to Bristol for a record eighth time.
The Series Championship is awarded to the highest point total of
the Holiday Tournament and one other show. Skidmore College scored
enough points in the Holiday Tournament alone to finish in the top
ten even though they missed the other two Tournament events. Mary
Washington scored 53 points in two shows but did not compete in the
required Holiday Tournament to qualify for the series trophy.
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At last! A photo actually taken at the 2011 Winter Tournament. Virginia Intermont College Head Coach Eddie Federwisch
(on left) and Xavier University of Ohio Head Coach (and tournament creator) Jim Arrigon pose with Ashley Wells (center), who won the
inaugural Equestrian Talent Search Medal division. This particular division was created for high school-aged riders to compete in front
of IHSA Head Coaches. From Erie, Pennsylvania, Wells beat out 20 other high school aged riders and received
a $5,000.00 scholarship offer (and a team jacket) on behalf of Virginia Intermont (photo by Angie Akers).
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The newest feature of the Tournament of Champions was the
Equestrian Talent Search Medal class, for which top high school
riders were invited to participate based on their performances in
the Equestrian Talent Search series of clinics held at six
locations around the country over the previous 12 months. Virginia
Intermont College sponsored the ETS Medal division, offering a five
thousand dollar scholarship to the winner. Twenty-two riders began
the class with equitation on the flat performances, after which
judge Sarah Good chose twelve to return for a jumping phase.
Using the same format as the collegiate Medal division, four riders
were invited back for further testing after the fences rounds. The
winner of the ETS Medal and the VIC scholarship was Ashley Wells, a
senior from Erie, Pennsylvania, who trains with Edinboro University
of Pennsylvania head coach Lew Trumble. Wells now has a choice to
make, as she had previously committed to Lynchburg's class of 2015.
The Reserve Champion was Kayla Akers, a senior from Cincinnati,
Ohio. Akers trains with Jim Arrigon at Beckett Run and was part of
the 2009 Interscholastic Equestrian Association National Champion
team. Akers hopes to ride next year for either Virginia Intermont
College or St. Andrews Presbyterian College.
Next Year’s Tournament of Champions Series will begin at
Otterbein University in Columbus, Ohio with the Pre-Season Classic
in late September. The 20th Anniversary Holiday Tournament at
Centenary College in Hackettstown, New Jersey will follow in
December. The site for the Winter Tournament event is still to be
decided. The Equestrian Talent Search clinic will return to
Chatham Hall this March, followed by a clinic Randolph College in
July. Chatham Hall and Equestrian Director Cricket Stone (herself
a former IHSA coach) provided a wonderfully festive facility and
about half the horses used in today's show. The remainder of the
horses were provided by Virginia Intermont College, Sweet Briar
College, Virginia Tech and Randolph College. Teams enjoyed a sunny
day in Chatham, with temperatures nearing 60 degrees. This was a
much-welcomed break for the many teams which had traveled from the
Northeast and Midwest where snow has fallen consistantly every week.
--Jim Arrigon
Bonus Coverage: For the first time since 2005 no school had two
separate teams of eight people entered in a Tournament of Champions
event. This meant no funny names to tell the teams apart, such as
Mount Holyoke Team Silly or Team Bandz or the frequently-seen
Virginia Tech Team Enter Sandman...We at Campus Equestrian do not
know where Olivia Smith of Sweet Briar College calls home. If
Smith (who was second in the Medal division to Menkens) resides
north of the Potomic river then each of the top six riders in the
Medal division would be from the Northeast. Rob Jacobs of St.
Andrews (sixth place) is from Maryland, Paige Messick of
Virginia Tech (fourth place) is from Delaware, Kelly Gerland of
Lynchburg (third) is from Pennsylvania while both Menkens and
Danielle Miranda of Lafayette College (fifth) call New Jersey
home (it was later pointed out to us that Smith is from Darien,
Connecticut, giving Northeastern States a clean sweep of the top
six)...Virginia Intermont's six-point margin of victory was the
second-biggest since VI won a tie-breaker with Centenary College in
December 2008. Starting with that touranment event five of the
next six were decided by four points or less, with the lone
exception being one half of Centenary trampling another half 43-25
with one of two Mount Holyoke teams third with 22 points in
December of 2009...Speaking of the Cyclones the 2010-11 season is
the first since 2002-03 that Centenary did not take part in any
Tournament of Champions series events. How the Cyclones might
have faired in any of the three events this season will be
debatable, though to their credit the Cyclones are currently
undefeated through seven fall Zone 3, Region 3 hunter seat
shows...Less than three weeks before the Winter Tournament West
Virginia University was not among the schools scheduled to compete.
One school located in Zone 6 (which shall be nameless) was a late
scratch allowing the Mountaineers to compete and turn in perhaps
their best effort to date in a tournament series event.
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"Henry" (on far left) and "Samson" (on far right) joined Virginia Intermont College for a 2011 Champion Team Photo.
Ashley Miller (third from left) and Amanda Shamer (fifth from left) are the only VI riders in this photo to have competed the last time
VI won a tournament event in December 2008 (photo by Bethany Coogle).
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Team Totals: Virginia Intermont College (High Point Team) 36;
Delaware Valley College (Reserve) 30; St. Andrews Presbyterian College
28; West Virginia University 25; Mount Holyoke College 23; Virginia
Tech 23; University of New Hampshire 20; University of Mary Washington
19; Penn State University (State College) 18; Sweet Briar College 16;
Lynchburg College 15; Lafayette College 15; University of South
Carolina (Columbia) 14; Tufts University 13; Randolph College 12;
University of the South 12; Stonehill College 10; Dartmouth College 10;
University of Michigan 6; Xavier University of Ohio 4 and University of
Wisconsin at Madison 4.
Results of Medal Division: 1. Ciara Menkens, Delaware Valley
College. 2. Oliva Smith, Sweet Briar College. 3. Kelly Gerland,
Lynchburg College. 4. Paige Messick, Virginia Tech. 5. Danielle
Miranda, Lafayette College. 6. Rob Jacobs, St. Andrews
Presbyterian College. 7. Miranda Cain, West Virginia University.
8. Elizabeth Tripp, Mount Holyoke College. 9. Lizzie Kerron,
Randolph College. 10. JoJo Gutfarb, Mount Holyoke College.
Results of Equestrian Talent Search Medal Division: 1. Ashley
Wells, senior, Erie, Pennsylvania. 2. Kayla Akers, senior, West
Chester, Ohio. 3. Beth Soloman, senior, Huntingdon Valley,
Pennsylvania. 4. Justice Filimonuk, sophomore, West Chester,
Ohio. 5. Meghan Hynes, senior, York, Maine. 6. Jenna Pagano,
senior, Charlotte, North Carolina. 7. Maren Sherrill, Sophomore,
Oak Ridge, North Carolina. 8. Ally D'Amico, junior, Cheshire,
Connecticut. 9. Katie Fisher, sophomore, Amherst, Virginia.
10. Jenna Boillotat, sophomore, Etna, New Hampshire.
Tournament Series Championship (top ten): 1. Virginia
Intermont College (champion) 62; Delaware Valley College
(reserve) 58; St. Andrews Presbyterian College 55; Virginia Tech
47; Mount Holyoke College 44; Lynchburg College 42; West Virginia
University 39; Penn State University (State College) 34;
University of New Hampshire 33; Tufts University 32.
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