Jackson and Callihan Each Notch A Victory For Goucher Equestrian At Holiday Tournament Of Champions

TYRONE, Pa. - Cole Jackson (Denver, Colo./East) and Adeline Callihan (Keene, N.H./Making Community Connections Charter) each won an event to pace Goucher College to a third-place standing at the Holiday Tournament of Champions on Saturday.

Jackson won the intermediate flat and finished sixth in the intermediate fences while Callihan was first in the novice flat against some of the nation's top equine programs.

Eunoh Lee (Seoul, South Korea/South Kent) placed third in the introductory flat while Halle Taylor (Dakar, Senegal / International School of Dakar) was fourth in the limit flat and Makaylin Shoop (Davidsonville, Md./South River) was fourth in limit fences.

Courtney Sloan (Annandale, Va./W.T. Woodson) finished fifth in the open flat and fifth in the open fences in her final collegiate event. Sloan, a senior, will graduate in December from Goucher. We would like to thank Courtney for her hard work and dedication to Goucher and the equestrian program for the last

Savannah Art & Design won the event with a score of 54 while Mount Holyoke was the Reserve Champion with 37 points. The Gophers finished third with 29 points while Penn State (28 points), Delaware Valley (26 points) and Miami of Ohio (25 points)  rounded out the Top-6 teams. Delaware, Wisconsin, Dickinson, Lake Erie, Otterbein, Rutgers, Sacred Heart, Seton Hill and Massachusetts also participated 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). With these changes, senior Cherise Madrid is the last person to earn a national championship in the classification of walk trot in 2019. 

Goucher returns to action after the New Year at the Winter Classic I Tournament of Champions on January 24-25.