St. Lawrence junior Dorothy Douglas had as good a day as anyone competing at the 2008 Winter Tournament of Champions in Chatham, Virginia on January 26th, winning her section of open fences while capturing first place in the Medal division. St. Lawrence finished with 33 points, essentially tieing Virginia Intermont for first place though the tiebreaker gave the blue ribbon to the latter.

VIRGINIA INTERMONT RALLIES, GETS A WIN IN 2007-08 TOURNAMENT COMPETITION

Chatham, VA - The third and final Tournament of Champions invitational show of the 2007-08 season took place on January 26th, with a late rally by two teams causing a change at the top following the final two team classes.

Though Mount Holyoke College led through seven divisions the Lyons came up two points short of a season-sweep of the Tournament events. Virginia Intermont College, the defending IHSA National Champion hunter seat team, had two teams entered in the competition, with their "Gold" team finishing with 33 points to secure first place at the 2008 Winter Tournament of Champions show in Chatham, Virginia.

However VI was not the only team with 33 points. St. Lawrence University, competing in a Tournament show for the first time this season, also overtook Mount Holyoke to score 33. Saints open rider Dorothy Douglas won her open fences class while Hadley Deming won novice flat and a second in novice fences. Douglas also captured first place in the prestigous Medal class, beating out 30 others through three phases. The junior from West Bridgewater, Massachusetts was one of three Saints riders in the medal class, as Katherine Hankin and Brittan White also were entered. Along with Douglas, open riders Hankin and White were among the 16 called back for the over fences phase, with White and Douglas two of only four to be tested further. A senior from Southampton, New York, White finished fourth overall in the Medal division.

Virginia Intermont riders faired the best following completion of the fences classes and the open and intermediate flat divisions. Junior Jennifer Kelly started the VI comeback with a win in novice flat while senior Jamie King made many believe that VI might pull out a victory after all. The senior from Elizabeth City, North Carolina won the walk-trot, leaving it up to sophomore Chelsea Dressler to complete the comeback. The sophomore from Covington, Virginia repeated her placing from the September 22nd Pre-Season Tournament of Champions, placing first in walk-trot-canter to give VI 21 of their 33 points over the final three divisions. Based on the tiebreaker formula the IHSA instituted in the fall of 2006, Virginia Intermont was official champion by virtue of their three blue ribbons in team classes compared to two for St. Lawrence.

In contrast Mount Holyoke had started like jackrabbits, with juniors Amanda Pettingill and Dani Corkill winning the first open and intermediate classes, respectively. A win for Caitlin Dickinson in the other walk-trot-canter section kept the Lyons in front until very late in the team competition. Though Mount Holyoke did not sweep the Lyons can still boast that with multiple teams entered at the previous two Tournament shows their lowest team ribbon was a third while their low point total of 20 (earned by their "Jacked & Tan" team at the Holiday Tournament December 1st and 2nd) was the only score below 31 in five tries.

Cornell University has performed very well at the Tournament shows they have entered since the fall of 2006. The Big Red finished second to Virginia Intermont by only a point at the 2006 Holiday Tournament and came within three points of the top this time. Junior Alyse Mizia won her intermediate flat while freshman Rachel Klion was a blue-ribbon winner in novice fences. Cornell was another team that 'chipped away' at the Mount Holyoke lead, eventually scoring 30 to equal their total earned at the pre-season tournament.

Following Cornell was a tie for fifth and sixth, with the VI "Black" team winning the tiebreaker based on either more blue or more red ribbons. Virginia Intermont freshman Amanda Shamer won her novice fences, which may have been the difference to send the pink ribbon back to Bristol and the green ribbon to Bridgewater, Virginia. Bridgewater College made their first Tournament appearance of 2007-08 and though the Eagles' "Gold Team" may have technically been sixth the third-place finisher in the Medal division was one of their own. Freshman open rider Lindsay Clark was one of the 31 Medal division entries and eventually was awarded the yellow ribbon by Judge Linda Shahinian, who was one of two hunter seat judges at the 2007 IHSA National show. VI's Black team and Bridgewater's Gold team finished with 24 points each.

In spite of temperatures which reached the 50's The University of North Carolina at Charlotte's "Team Snowflake" claimed seventh place with 19 points. Once again 49er's open rider Maggie Wahl was outstanding in the Medal division. Wahl, who won the Medal class at the pre-season tourney, was the fourth rider along with Clark, White and Douglas to be called back for testing. The Charlotte junior, who at one time was a member of the VI team, earned Reserve Champion honors in the medal class.

Rounding out the teams with double-digit scores were Virginia Tech's "Orange Hokies" with 18, Tufts University with 16, Cazenovia College with 16, Bridgewater College's "Crimson Team" with 13, UNC-Charlotte's "Team Frosty" with 12, Virginia Tech's "Maroon Hokies" with 12, Ohio University's "Green Team" with 12, the University of Michigan with 12, Sweet Briar College with 11, Goucher College with 11 and the University of Georgia with 10.

Following the show the Tournament Series Championship trophy was awarded to Mount Holyoke College. The various Lyon teams combined to score 103 points over three tournament shows to capture the trophy for surprisingly the first time in program history. Virginia Intermont, hampered by a sub-par showing at the Holiday Tournament, finished second for the season with 85 points. Cornell, with only two teams entered as opposed to five for both Mount Holyoke and VI, was third with 60. It should be noted that a team must compete in at least two of the Tournament of Champions series shows to win this award, and only ten programs could make that claim in 2007-08. With the Tournament of Champions shows growing in popularity, and growth around the IHSA in general, perhaps only a dozen or so programs will receive the opportunity to enter a full team more than once in Tournament competition come the 2008-09 season.

--Steve Maxwell

Show incidentals: Partly sunny skies, with temperatures reaching the 50's. Entire show held indoors. Start and Finish times unknown. Judge: Linda Shahinian, Edgewater, New Jersey. Stewards: Chris Mitchell/Cornell University, Shirley Murphy/University of North Carolina at Charlotte and Teresa McDonald/Virginia Tech.

Team Totals: Virginia Intermont College - Gold (High Point Team; won tiebreaker with three blue ribbons) 33; St. Lawrence University (Reserve, with two blue ribbons) 33; Mount Holyoke College 31; Cornell University 30; Virginia Intermont College - Black 24; Bridgewater College - Gold 24; University of North Carolina at Charlotte - Team Snowflake 19; Virginia Tech - Orange Hokies 18; Tufts University 16; Cazenovia College 16; Bridgewater College - Crimson 13; University of North Carolina at Charlotte - Team Frosty 12; University of Michigan 12; Ohio University - Green Team 12; Virginia Tech - Maroon Hokies 12; Goucher College 11; Sweet Briar College 11; University of Georgia 10; St. Andrews Presbyterian College 6; East Stroudsburg University 6; Ohio University - White Team 2; Vanderbilt University 1; University of Notre Dame/St. Mary's College (IN) 0 and Xavier University of Ohio 0.

Medal Division Top Twelve: 1. Dorothy Douglas, St. Lawrence University. 2. Maggie Wahl, University of North Carolina at Charlotte. 3. Lindsay Clark, Bridgewater College. 4. Brittan White, Saint Lawrence University. 5. Tattie Singer, Mount Holyoke College. 6. Meredith Clark, Virginia Tech. 7. Caroline Schulman, Cornell University. 8. Caralie Cahill, Mount Holyoke College. 9. Alison Sims, Sweet Briar College. 10. Jen Mondazzi, Cazenovia College. 11. Rebecca Reiner, Tufts University. 12. Jesse Vannucci, Cazenovia College.

2007-08 Tournament of Champions Series Final Standings (combines team points from shows on 9/22/07, 12/1 and 12/2/07 and 1/26/08): Mount Holyoke College (Champion for the season) 103; Virginia Intermont College (Reserve Champion) 85; Cornell University 60; Goucher College 47; University of North Carolina at Charlotte 46; St. Andrews Presbyterian College 32; Virginia Tech 32; Tufts University 30; East Stroudsburg University 19 and the University of Georgia 16.