Sweet Briar College students Karen Dennehy and Jodie Weber took first and third place, respectively, in the overall individual competition category at the Affiliated National Riding Commission (ANRC) National Championships held on April 17 and 18 at the College's Rogers Riding Center.
Sweet Briar welcomed 11 teams from colleges and universities in the Northeast, South, and Midwest, including Virginia Intermont, Kenyon, Goucher, St. Andrews, and the University of Virginia. Six SBC students competed under the direction of Shelby French, associate professor and riding director, including Weber '06, Dennehy '05, Lauren Wade '05, Sarah Mouri '06, Katie Barnett '04, and Meg Shortlidge '06.
Anne Kenan from Dahlonga, Ga., and Dacia Funkhouser from Romney, Ind., served as judges.
Riding Sweet Briar's "Hocus Pocus," Dennehy bested runner-up Christina Kalinski of St. Andrews Presbyterian (82.74) with an overall score of 82.91, and Weber scored 81.84 for third place overall. Weber also placed second in the individual dressage sportif competition with a score of 217.
In individual categories, Sweet Briar placed third in team written and team dressage sportif competitions, as well as fifth in the team hunter trials equitation. In overall team competition, Virginia Intermont College bested St. Andrews College by a 0.78 of a point margin to nab the team title at the 27th annual event.
Although she knew, based on the running score, about where she stood throughout the competition, Dennehy said couldn't anticipate how she would ultimately fare until the awards ceremony itself.
"After [my performance in] the second phase, I knew I had to do well in the third. I didn't know for sure how my score would turn out."
Dennehy's goal was to improve her performance from that in last year's ANRC finals held at Goucher College in Baltimore, Md., where Sweet Briar won the reserve champion team title.
"I switched horses and ended up not doing well," the Ashland, Va., native said. "I didn't have a horse that was prepared."
This time, when she heard her name called for the top award, Dennehy realized the extra training she put in had paid off. "It was overwhelming," she said. "I'd worked really hard this semester [but] winning was completely unexpected. It made it much more memorable."
Dennehy said she was equally pleased with her teammates' riding. She attributes a lot of her and the team's success this year to instructor Shelby French.
"We were all prepared this year," Dennehy said. "A few girls had a few minor mistakes, but everyone was very horsemanship-like. The excellence of Shelby is the main thing that got us through."
French called the event, which includes a written theory exam and three riding tests, "a complete test of horsemanship. I think that, aside from the competition, it's a great learning experience for the riders. Everybody who walks away from it says they grew as a rider," she said.
Dennehy, who said she learned to ride "before I could walk," plans to spend the summer working with and riding 10 to 14 racehorses at Colonial Downs in New Kent, Va., near Williamsburg.
"When I come back, Shelby has her work cut out for her getting me back to the hunter position," she joked.
Pam Whitfield, ANRC publications chair, contributed to this story.
