Ocala, Fla. -- University of Lynchburg's equestrian team is the 2022 National Collegiate Equestrian Association's single discipline national champion!
The Hornets defeated rival and top-ranked Sweet Briar, 5-3, to win the championship. Sophomore Kelley McCormick clinched the win for No. 3-ranked Lynchburg on the final ride on the flat, scoring 240 points to best Sweet Briar's Britt Larson-Jackson by half a point.
Freshman Emma Schweizer led the way with a pair of points for the Hornets. Freshman Fallyn Belcastro and sophomore Jacqueline Needle won points over fences.
McCormick's win capped off the Hornets' best performance of the season in NCEA competition. Lynchburg started off hot over fences. Needle teamed up with Perry to score 204 in the Hornets' first ride of the day, and McCormick turned in a 198-point ride on Bentley, also in the first half of fences competition.
Belcastro opened the second half of fences with a 250-point ride on Cartoon, the highest-judged ride of the meet for either team in either discipline, to win by a point over Larson-Jackson, who also rode phenomenally. After Needle's SBC opponent rode to no points, Lynchburg led 2-0. The Hornets made it a commanding lead when Schweizer rode Vivaldi to 242 points, but Sweet Briar took the final point of fences competition to keep the Vixens' hopes alive.
Sweet Briar captured the meet's momentum at the start of flat competition. After a Lynchburg zero, SBC's Katherine Atherton captured the first flat point of the meet, but Schweizer followed with a 234-point ride on Captain for Lynchburg's critical fourth point.
SBC's Kacie Freeburg scored 225.5 on Lina, topping a strong 220-point ride from Lynchburg senior Taylor Herzog, to make the meet come down to McCormick's ride, the eighth and final of the competition.
The sophomore came up big with Lynchburg's best flat performance of the championship weekend, 240 points on Rosie, to clinch the national title.
The championship was the first in the Lynchburg equestrian program's history in just their second year of NCEA-format competition and the University's first since the women's soccer team won the NCAA Division III title in 2014.
Lynchburg finishes the 2021-22 NCEA season with a 7-8 overall record but a 6-2 mark against other single discipline teams.
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--LYN--
