ODAC Equestrian Championship Preview

Bridgewater Set to Welcome Conference Schools

FOREST, Va. --- The annual ODAC Equestrian Championship heads to the Harrisonburg-area as Bridgewater College welcomes the conference's six competing schools to the Bridgewater College Equestrian Center. Bridgewater last served as championship hosts in 2014, which featured a one-point victory (17-16) for Washington and Lee over the host Eagles.

Each of the participating programs will compete over three rounds of competition beginning at 1:00 p.m. Scoring for the ODAC Championships differs from that of the IHSA shows, where riders are split into two or three separate sections for competition. For the ODAC event, each team will feature four riders and will use their own horses. In IHSA shows, competing riders must use horses provided by the host.

Each ODAC rider will compete in two jumping rounds and earn a score taken from the average of two judges. The low average for each team will be dropped and a point total will be assigned to each team's combined score in rank order. The final round, which is competition on the flat, only features two riders per school.

All six schools -- Bridgewater College, Hollins University, University of Lynchburg, Randolph College, Sweet Briar College, Washington and Lee University -- will field four-rider teams that feature a balance of past success and new faces. Each will be vying to dethrone Randolph College, which earned the WildCats their first league title in program history.

RELATED: All-Time ODAC Equestrian Championship Results

The 2018 championship saw Randolph open with a strong showing over the first set of fences. The WildCats were the lone squad to see each of their three scoring riders post scores of 80 or better on the way to racking up seven points. Randolph remained at the top thru the second round over fences with a second-place showing to add five points to its tally. Hollins University, the 2017 team champion, flipped the script from the first round where HU collected just one point to garnering first place in the second fences session for a seven-point haul.

Sweet Briar College collected full points in the final session over the flat. Hollins finished second to secure five more points and finish in a tie for second with SBC at 13 overall points. Tiebreakers via cumulative score over the fences award the Vixens second place in the final standings. Randolph placed third over the flat, securing the WildCats team title with 15 points.

Three schools were represented over the four major individual honors from the championship. Sweet Briar's Lily Peterson topped all competitors with an 83.25 average covering the two fences sessions. She earned not only ODAC Rider of the Year honors but also ODAC Rookie of the Year laurels as the competitions top first-year rider. Randolph mentor Chris Mitchell took home the ODAC Coach of the Year award, and Lynchburg's Christina Antonucci earned ODAC/Virginia Farm Bureau Insurance Scholar-Athlete recognition from the league's sports information directors.

RELATED: 2018 ODAC Equestrian Championship Results

Listed below is information regarding this season's championships. For more, visit the websites of the participating schools, or go to the ODAC's home on the Internet at www.odaconline.com. Be sure to watch the LIVE online stream from LHSN of the championship. Don't forget to become a fan of the ODAC on Facebook and following @odacathletics on Twitter and Instagram.