Tournament of Champions

TOURNAMENT PAST

We coached Miami University of Ohio for nearly two decades, starting in 1989, and quickly realized two constants regarding Midwestern collegiate riding in the late-1980’s… 1) the same Midwestern teams easily won their regions every year - Miami, Purdue, Kentucky, Colorado State; and… 2) those same Midwestern teams embarrassed themselves at Nationals each year. The eastern teams were WAAAY ahead of the rest of the country. We recognized we needed to show our riders a higher level of competition, and so we organized a combination scrimmage/ big deal event. We invited eight teams the first year - the best of the Midwest - Miami, Purdue, Kentucky, and Colorado State, and then persuaded three good Eastern teams to compete against us - Virginia Intermont College, Penn State, and Mount Holyoke, plus the host team - Murray State University of Kentucky. Holyoke won that 1990 precursor to Tournament, called the Midsouth Classic. We held the Midsouth Classic once more at Morehead State University in Kentucky, with Holyoke winning again.

With a format that worked, we greatly expanded and began finding good teams from around the country to compete in “Tournament of Champions”. Remember that this was all before the internet, email, or cell phones. Lake Erie College hosted the first official Holiday Tournament the following year, with Lake Erie also winning the championship.

CLICK HERE to see the hosts and Champions of all the Tournaments in the past three decades.

From a single practice show, Tournament of Champions has thrived for nearly 30 years, and evolved into a four-show series with a Series Championship. Holiday Tournament continued as the only Tournament show for several years. In 2000 we expanded to a Series with the addition of both the “Preseason Classic” to be held in mid-September, and the “Spring Classic” in March at New Mexico State, then West Texas A&M. A couple years later we dropped Spring Classic and added “Winter Classic” in late January. With growing interest and demand from teams, we eventually added a second Winter show, and for several years we’ve operated Winter 1 and Winter 2 on consecutive January weekends. After a couple winter weather cancellations, we will resurrect the Spring Classic again next year in place of Winter 1. The Series Championship was dominated at first by Virginia Intermont College, and more recently Savannah College of Art & Design.

CLICK HERE to see a list of all the Tournament Series Champions

Centenary University has hosted more Tournaments than anyone else, having hosted the Holiday Tournament six times. Other most common hosts have been Randolph College, Otterbein University, University of Mary Washington, St. Andrews University and Goucher College.

TOURNAMENT MEDAL

In 2006, we started a “Tournament Medal” class, with a format similar to the Cacchione Cup event at Nationals. The Medal has seen some of the biggest names in IHSA, including Erika Jewell, Ryan Genn, Ciara Menkens, Chase Boggio and others. Chase and Ciara became the standard-bearers, each having won the Tournament Medal three times. Click the button below to see a history of all the winners.

Tournament Medal was originally intended for open level riders, and originally we were accepting entries from good alumni, and even open riders from teams who weren’t competing at the Tournament. Very quickly it became so popular that Medal spots were hard to come by, and we eliminated all but competing team undergrads.

The popularity and notoriety of Tournament Medal led to the advent of the “Low Medal” class in 2016. With the same format as what is now called High Medal, the Low Medal was intended for good Novice level riders and low Intermediates. SCAD has owned the class for several years, with Tess Mroczka having won three times and Brady Martino setting the record as he won his fourth Low Medal January 2019.

CLICK HERE to see a list of all the past Tournament Medal Champions.

tournament present

What began as a single “scrimmage” has grown to a four-show annual series nearly 30 years into the experiment. The formula is simple: get the best teams, the best and most unique prizes, the coaches’ favorite judges, and great individual Medal riders. The “invitational” element has nearly out-grown itself - now days we have more teams asking for invitations than we can take. At most shows, nearly all the teams will be 1st Place teams in their regions, although we always try to find some deserving 2nd place teams or up-and-comers, those unheard-of teams that can show up and surprise everyone. Teams interested in having an invitation should contact Tournament Director Jim Arrigon with the contact info on this website.

Many of the top coaches have realized they need the high level of competition of Tournament to keep their teams sharp. It is also a good chance to see how riders perform in front of Nationals type judges. There is simply no place in any region where teams can get the level of Nationals prep they get at Tournament four times per year.

This is a “Team Tournament” format, which is to say that teams bring one entry in each of the eight IHSA classes. If necessary, teams may move a rider up to compete at Tournament - because it is NOT a sanctioned IHSA show, riders may move up for Tournament and then go back down for the next regular IHSA show. Tournament is a good place to get ring time for those top riders coaches want to hold back from the regular shows.

TOURNAMENT MEDAL

Each Tournament also offers a High Medal class, in which all entries will compete on the flat first, after which the judge will callback ten to jump. Nearly all entries are Open level riders, although teams may enter good Intermediates as well. The judge has the option to test additionally following the jumping rounds. The judging guidelines are for both phases to count equally in final placings.

Most Tournaments also offer a Low Medal in the same format. Low Medal is for Novice level riders or those holding fewer than 18 points in Intermediate fences.

PREP TOURNAMENT

We have also added a PREP Tournament a couple times per year, for 7th through 12th graders. To be clear, it is NOT an IEA formatted event, and entries come partially from IEA teams but also from prep schools, show barns, etc. A team is comprised of 3 flat classes and 3 fences of any level - mix and match levels for 6 classes total. Most teams are comprised of 3 riders, each of whom ride both a flat and fences class, but some IEA teams bring as many as 6 different riders. Most try to field riders of all three different levels so they don’t have to compete against each other, but some good teams have been all three same level. Your choice.

CLICK HERE to download the PREP Tournment entry packet.

Teams interested in attending should contact Tournament Director Jim Arrigon at the contact info on this website.