Tournament of Champions

TOURNAMENT PAST

We coached Miami University of Ohio Equestrian 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. 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.

With a format that worked, and coaches strongly behind the idea, we gradually expanded into two shows, then three, and ultimately the four-show series that exists today.

We’re always watching for good teams from around the country to compete in “Tournament of Champions”, usually Regional Champions or regional leaders, but also really good 2nd place teams from some of the better regions.

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

From that single practice show, Tournament of Champions has thrived into our fourth decade, and evolved into a four-show series with a Series Championship. Holiday Tournament continued as the only Tournament show for several years. In the late-90’s, we expanded with the addition of the “Preseason Classic”, held in mid-September, and hosted several times in a row by Purdue at Jerry Steinmetz’ Foxton Farm. In 2000, we held the first “Spring Classic” in March at New Mexico State, then West Texas A&M the next year. Within a couple years, we dropped Spring Classic and instead 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 resurrected the Spring Classic again 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 Holiday Tournaments than anyone else, having hosted six times, and they will do a seventh in December 2025. Other most common hosts have been Randolph College, Otterbein University, University of Mary Washington, St. Andrews University and Goucher College. SCAD will host the Winter Classic for the seventh time in January 2026, tying Centenary as the most prolific Tournament hosts.

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 Alex Alston, Celia Cram, Cole Jackson, 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. Then came Celia…

When SCAD’s Celia Cram won the High Medal for a 3rd time, she became Tournament royalty. When she won her 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, and then an 8th… she became LEGEND.

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 when he won his 6th Low Medal January 2020. Could he have won more? The next several shows were cancelled because of COVID during Brady’s senior year.

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

Sacred Heart has been one of the few teams to consistently challenge SCAD in Tournaments , recently, finishing Reserve Champion to SCAD in BOTH the 2024 IHSA Nationals AND Tourament of Champions Series.

ETS MEDAL

Stuck right into the middle of most collegiate Tournament of Champions show is a special two-phase Medal class for high school aged riders that have been recruited from the ETS Boot Camps. In the same format as collegiate Medals, all riders compete on the flat before the judge calls back half to compete over jumps. It’s a big deal, with riders being seen by many of the best coaches in America, but even a bigger deal is that they will be coached by the college coach of their choice. A week or so before the competition, I ask each ETS Medal rider to name a couple choices of coaches they would like to work with, and coaches volunteer their time to help riders mount, coach them through the show, walk the course, etc. It’s a chance to really get to know the coaches and teams, while the coaches get a lot of recruiting done, as well,

TOURNAMENT FUTURE

Following are the upcoming dates and locations for 2025-26 season of Tournament of Champions, our 35th Anniversary season!

September 27, 2025 at Goucher College,

Towson, Maryland.

35th Annual

December 6, 2025, at Centenary University,

Long Valley, New Jersey.

January 24, 2026 at

Savannah College of Art & Design,

Savannah, Georgia.

March 21, 2026 at University of Findlay

Findlay, Ohio.

SCAD has hosted more Tournaments than anyone.