Lexington, Va. -- University of Lynchburg's equestrian team rode to a third-place finish at the 2022 Old Dominion Athletic Conference championships Sunday at the Virginia Horse Center.
The Hornets totaled 14 points on the day, just a point behind champion Washington and Lee and reserve-champion Sweet Briar in the conference championship show.
Three Hornets – sophomore Kelley McCormick and freshmen Fallyn Belcastro and Lucy Metzler – landed all-conference honors.
Belcastro helped Lynchburg off to a hot start as the freshman totaled an average of 87.5 over the first fences course of the day. The Hornets' total of 233 points through the first round put Lynchburg in second place at the first break of the day.
Lynchburg fell to third after the second fences course, highlighted by Metzler's 78.5 average through her two rides on that pattern.
Metzler led Lynchburg on the flat portion of the competition, too, riding to an average of 81.5. Freshman Emma Schweizer also rode on the flat for the Hornets, compiling a 79.5 average as Lynchburg totaled the second-highest flat average among the conference's five teams.
W&L and Sweet Briar wound up tied after the three stages of competition, but the Generals won the ride-off to claim the team title. Lynchburg's third-place finish matched the program's best-ever finish at the event since its 2005 inception. The Hornets were also third in 2017. The team's 14 points this year were a high-water mark for the program.
The Hornets will continue postseason competition in April. Freshman Dakota Banks will represent the Hornets at the Intercollegiate Horse Shows Association Zone 4 championships next weekend in Laurinburg, N.C., and the No. 3-ranked Hornets will compete April 15-16 for the National Collegiate Equestrian Association's Single Discipline championship at the World Equestrian Center in Ocala, Fla.
Visit Lynchburg athletics' home online, LynchburgSports.com, anytime for up-to-the-minute news on all Hornets sports and coverage from the Lynchburg Hornets Sports Network. Click here to sign up for email and text alerts from Lynchburg athletics.
Give Lynchburg Sports a like on Facebook, and follow Lynchburg athletics on Instagram and Twitter.
--LYN--
