Westerville, Ohio -- The University of Lynchburg Equestrian Team completed its season debut with the IHSA Tournament of Champions in Westerville, Ohio on Saturday, capturing the program's best finish at the tournament in school history. Lynchburg had two teams competing at the tournament hosted at Otterbein University.
Lynchburg's Team Red had the Hornets highest finish at TOC to date. Alexandria Russell and Lucy Metzler led the way with a pair of blue ribbons. Metzler won the open fences while also placing fourth in the open flat. Russell took the crown in the intermediate flat and landed in fifth in the intermediate fences. Jessica McElhaney had a strong showing as well, placing second in the limit fences. McElhaney also took sixth place in the limit flat. McKenzie Burch rounds out the competitors for Lynchburg's Team Red with second place in the low medal.
Team Black for Lynchburg finished ninth overall in the TOC. Ava Jackson and Clair Humphreys has the best showings of the Hornets on Team Black as each placed second in the limit fences and the novice, respectively. Elle Nutting concluded the event at fourth place in the intermediate fences, fifth place in the limit flat and sixth place in the high medal. Margaret Stell nabbed fourth place in the open fences.
13 programs from across the country competed in this year's TOC. Otterbein earned the champion title while SCAD was awarded the reserve champion. Mount Holyoke placed in third, Skidmore took fourth and Goucher College rounded out the top five. The other participating schools included Albion College, Penn State, Alfred University, Miami University of Ohio, UMass Amherst, Ohio University, and West Texas A&M.
The Hornets are off and rolling in the 2024-25 campaign. Next up, Lynchburg welcomes College of Charleston and Centenary University to Rustburg, Va. for a pair of home dual meets. The equestrian squad will face Charleston on Friday, September 27 at 2 p.m. before taking on Centenary on Saturday, September 28 at 9 a.m.
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.
Sign up here to receive Lynchburg Sports news in your email inbox.
Give Lynchburg Sports a like on Facebook, and follow Lynchburg athletics on Instagram, Threads, and X.
--LYN--
