Caroline Hawkins: Collegiate Eventing Team Challenge at Chatt Hills a Success

We love to see college athletes representing the sport of eventing, and the team concept has really taken off recently. Last weekend, many college teams converged on Chattahoochee Hills for a Collegiate Eventing Team Challenge. Many thanks to University of Georgia Eventing Vice President, Caroline Hawkins, for sending in her recap of the event. Do you have a college team or event you'd like to share a story on? If so, tip us at [email protected]. Thank you, Carolina, for writing, and thank you for reading!

School spirit on display at Chatt Hills. Photo from the UGA Eventing Team. School spirit on display at Chatt Hills. Photo from the UGA Eventing Team.
While much of the eventing world was focused on The Fork this past weekend, collegiate eventing took center stage at the Chattahoochee Hills April Horse Trials. Five colleges: University of Georgia, Auburn University, University of Alabama, Clemson University, and the University of North Georgia, made up nine teams consisting of 32 riders who competed over the weekend. The barns were decorated with school colors and school pride was in the air as flags hung proudly above the arena.
Saturday was a long, action packed day, with the first college rider entering the dressage ring around 8:00 a.m. The competitive spirit continued until the last rider galloped through the finish flags at 4:30pm. The cross country action was incredible to watch, with riders geared up in school colors and supporters lined up around the course cheering on their classmates and teammates!
Collegiate award ceremony. Photo from the UGA Eventing Team.

Collegiate award ceremony. Photo from the UGA Eventing Team.

Overall, it was a very successful weekend for teams as well as individual riders. College riders were in the ribbons in nearly every division, and each college went home with team ribbons. Winning the overall team challenge was the University of Georgia Red Team consisting of Ashley Greene, Elizabeth Lee, and Caroline Hawkins. Second place was a Clemson/Georgia team made up of Leigh Casacelli, Haley Doyle, and Callan Littrell. North Georgia riders Kelsey Stark, Devon Olivier, Karolina Sabonaityte, and Hannah Chapman took home third. The best scoring college rider was Georgia’s Ashley Greene, and tied for second were North Georgia’s Devon Olivier and Clemson’s Haley Doyle.
In addition to students representing their schools,  alumni teams were formed in support of collegiate eventing. We owe Chattahoochee Hills and Hugh Lochore a big thank you for hosting another successful challenge and creating enthusiasm about college eventing as a whole! We continue to see intercollegiate eventing grow in popularity and we are looking forward to the next team challenge this weekend at FENCE. Go college eventing!
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