NCEA Team Earns Runner-Up at National Championships

OCALA, Fla. – The No. 2-seed Sweet Briar College NCEA team (8-3, 4-0 ODAC) fell to the No. 1-seed University of Lynchburg Hornets (9-2, 2-1 ODAC) 6-3 in the National Collegiate Equestrian Association (NCEA) Single Discipline National Championship meet today at the World Equestrian Center.

The meet was all tied up at two following the completion of fences with senior Emmy Longest (Hanover, Va.) and junior Katherine Atherton (Montpelier, Va.) earning points for the Vixens.

Longest totaled an 84.67 on Klaus to narrowly beat Brynley Smith while Atherton secured a 5.67 point margin of victory over Mackenna Moss with her score of 81 on Campo.

Fellow junior Isabelle Mesiarik (Pottstown, Pa.) tied with Jacqi Needle on Perry with a score of 77.67 to prevent Lynchburg from taking the lead into the second half of the meet.

However, the Hornets began to pull away during flat competition with sophomore Wyette Felton (Canton, Ga.) being the lone points earner for Sweet Briar.

The Georgia native earned a 78.33 to beat Abigail Zemp’s score of 78 on Swag.

With the Vixens earning only one point on the flat and the Hornets capturing four, Lynchburg ultimately came away with the 6-3 victory to capture the national title.

Highlights

• Longest was named to the All-Championship Team for Fences and also earned the title of Single Discipline’s Most Outstanding Performer (MOP) in fences.
• Longest went undefeated at Nationals in fences competition while Felton was perfect on the flat.

Photo credit: US Equestrian