St. Andrews Hosts Two National Collegiate Championships           EVENT COORDINATORS – Jackie Dwelle (right), St. Andrews dressage coach, reviews mount times with Beth Beukema, President of the Intercollegiate Dressage Association.

          Hosting two consecutive weekends of national equestrian college championships, St. Andrews Presbyterian College of Laurinburg, NC, came away with a second-place finish (Reserve Champion) in the American National Riding Commission’s national championship.

          The Savannah College of Art and Design earned the national title for the ANRC while, during the second weekend, Virginia    Intermont College rode away with the national title from the Intercollegiate Dressage Association.

“We were delighted to be in North Carolina. The climate has been ideal,” said Beth Beukema, President of the IDA. “The facility was beautifully prepared. We love the southern hospitality from the motels to the towns. We are happy to have held our fifth competition here.”

          Helping to attract the two national championships were expanded equestrian facilities at St. Andrews includes three barns, a 120’ x 300’ covered arena, five outdoor show and teaching arenas, and a hunter trials course with a bank, a ditch, and stationary jumps.

          “We are excited to have hosted both the ANRC and IDA national championships,” said Peggy McElveen, Director of the St. Andrews Equestrian Program. “We heard many compliments from the competing teams and judges. We are highly appreciative for the way Laurinburg and St. Andrews received these people from all over the United States.”

ANRC National Championship

          “It was a great competition,” said Patricia Heuckeroth, one of the competition judges for the ANRC national championship. “It’s a great facility and we had some very good rounds.”

          St. Andrews hosted the equestrian competition April 21-23 in Laurinburg, NC.

         Savannah College of Art and Design’s Jordan Siegel was a repeat Overall Individual Champion, having won the competition last year. Christina Kalinski of St. Andrews Presbyterian College earned second overall and Meredith Gallagher of Savannah College of Art & Design finished third.

          “We were thrilled to host the competition and are pleased with the result,” said Laura Norment, meet director, of St. Andrews. “We appreciate the work of everyone who contributed to the event to make it a success.”

St. Andrews earned first place in the Team Dressage Sportif Competition ahead of Savannah College of Art and Design and Virginia Intermont College.

          Savannah won the Team Hunter Seat Equitation Competition and the Team Hunter Trials Equitation Competition. With a score of 50.70, the University of Virginia and St. Andrews tied for second in the Team Hunter Seat Equitation Competition. Goucher College earned second place in the Team Hunter Trials Equitation Competition with St. Andrews third.

Hattie Saltonstall of Savannah College of Art and Design won the Hunter Seat Equitation Competition and Hunter Trials Equitation Competition, while Ericka Jewell of Virginia Intermont College won the Dressage Sportif Competition.

          Special awards were presented to three individuals. The Sportsmanship Award was presented to Lydia Davies of Goucher College. Paul Cronin was awarded the ANRC Professional Service Award for outstanding service and contribution to the ANRC. Whitney Roper of the University of Virginia received the ANRC Collegiate Amateur Rider Award for the best representation of intercollegiate competition.

         The event also includes a written competition, which St. Andrews won with a team score of 175.10. Goucher College and Delaware Valley were second and third in scores with respective team totals of 172 and 171. In the individual written competition, Jessica Yankus of Delaware Valley College placed first with Siobhan Fitzgerald of Virginia Intermont College and Elizabeth Gold of Sweet Briar College finishing second and third respectively.

          The 2007 ANRC National Intercollegiate Riding Championship will take place at Centenary College in Hackettstown, New Jersey.

IDA National Championship

          Riders from Mount Holyoke College, Virginia Intermont College, and Lake Erie College captured individual titles in the National Finals of the Intercollegiate Dressage Association April 28-30 at St. Andrews Presbyterian College in Laurinburg.

The 2006 national IDA team championship went to equestrian powerhouse Virginia Intermont of Bristol, Va.

          “The competition has been just fabulous,” said Beukema, IDA president. “The horses were provided by several colleges (including St. Andrews). The southeast region put together the best horses from every school so we were really able to showcase the riders’ skills.”

          Beukema went on to say that “the judges have been totally impressed by the quality of the riders and quality of the horses.” Scores given by the judges were comparable to scores given in open competitions. “This speaks highly of the riding and St. Andrews that they had this quality of competition,” said Beukema.

          “We would love to come back to have another national championship here,” she said.

          In individual competition, Julianne Wilson of Virginia Intermont captured top honors in Training Level Test 2 with 71.346%. For Introductory Level Test B, Janne Metzner-Gore of Mount Holyoke College scored 70.952% for first place.

In First Level Test 4, Cecily Bonadio of Lake Erie College took top honors with 68.611%. For Training Level Test 4, Rachael Kauffmann of Lake Erie College won with 68.077%.

          In Saturday’s team competition, Virginia Intermont piled up 46 out of 52 possible points to surpass 11 other national competitors. The 12-team finale came as a result of six regional qualifiers held across the country.

Lake Erie College of Painesville, Ohio, finished second with 41 points while Mount Holyoke College of South Hadley, Mass., took third with 34 points. The field included two teams from California and one team from Canada.

St. Andrews Equestrian Center Facts

• 300+ acres of land, fenced and cross-fenced with miles of white vinyl fencing, just 2 miles from the main campus.
• 3 barns with a total of 90 stalls

• 14-stall barn, with 12’ x 12’ stalls, which is connected to the covered arena and houses the therapeutic riding horses. This building has a tack room, offices, a viewing room, and a classroom.
• 24-stall barn, with 12’ x 12’ stalls, which houses the lesson horses. This building has a tack room, offices, kitchen, lounge and storage.
• 52-stall barn, with 12’ x 12’ stalls, with two tack rooms, two feed rooms and office space.

• 120’ x 300’ covered arena.
• 5 outdoor show and teaching arenas.
• A hunter trials course with a bank, a ditch, and stationary jumps.
• 1 120’ x 250’ dressage arena.
• Acres of pasture and paddocks.

ANRC National Intercollegiate Riding Championship

Saturday, April 22 and Sunday, April 23, 2006

Hosted by St. Andrews Presbyterian College

Overall Team Competition

Overall Individual Competition

Team Written Competition

Individual Written Competition

Team Dressage Sportif Competition

Individual Dressage Sportif Competition

Team Hunter Seat Equitation Competition

Individual Hunter Seat Equitation Competition

Team Hunter Trials Equitation Competition

Individual Hunter Trials Equitation Competition

IDA National Dressage Championship

Saturday, April 29 and Sunday, April 30, 2006

Hosted by St. Andrews Presbyterian College

Team Results

Virginia Intermont                                       46

Lake Erie College                                       41

Mount Holyoke College                              34

University of Findlay                                   30

University of New Hampshire                     28

Johnson & Wales                                       24

University of Massachusetts                        23

California Poly San Luis Obispo                 23

Centenary College                                      20

Averett University                                       18

Otterbein College                                       16

University of Florida                                   13

Individual Results

Training Level Test 2

1. Julianne Wilson, Virginia Intermont College                   71.346%

2. Jessica May, Virginia Intermont College                        69.038%

3. Ana Shreck, Mount Holyoke College                            67.500%

Introductory Level Test B

1. Janne Metzner-Gore, Mount Holyoke College              70.952%

2. Darcy Bornemann, Lake Erie College                           69.286%

3. Elise Petitjean, University of Guelph                              69.048%

First Level Test 4

1. Cecily Bonadio, Lake Erie College                               68.611%

2. Ashley Burd, Virginia Intermont College                       67.500%

3. Nora Harris, Virginia Intermont College                        67.083

Training Level Test 4

1. Rachael Kauffman, Lake Erie College                          68.077%

2. Theresa Kiedinger, Virginia Intermont College             67.308%

3. Lauren Hunter, University of Florida                            66.923%