OCALA, Fla. --- National Champions!!!

A day after going to tiebreaker points to defeat fellow ODAC member Sweet Briar College in the semifinals, the University of Lynchburg equestrian team found the going a bit easier on Saturday with a 6-3 victory over the College of Charleston to claim the program's fourth NCEA single discipline title at the World Equestrian Center in Ocala, Fla.

The Hornets (12-2), ranked No. 1 in the country entering the event, have now lifted trophies in 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2026.

Lynchburg opened with a comfortable 4-1 win over the Cougars during the fences competition. Session MOP Madeline Rubin led all riders with an 88.0 scoring average on fences, receiving scores of 89.0 from three of the five judges. Averages in a five-judge system are derived by removing the top and bottom scores and averaging the remaining three.

All five Hornet riders averaged 80.0 or better with Amaya Bellfield (85.3), Rebecca Collier (83.7), and Stella Patenaude (82.3) winning their matchups. Mary Katherine Ragsdale (80.0) was strong in her loss by 2.7 points to her CoC counterpart.

That three-point team-score edge would more than hold-up with the Hornets tying the Cougars, 2-2, on the flat. Abigail Zemp collected MOP honors with an 88.0 average -- which was needed to defeat her opponent with an 86.0 score. While not included in her average calculation, Zemp earned an overall show-high 91 from the one of the judges.

Abigail Devlin also won her matchup with a 76.7 average, while Collier tied her Cougars' opponent with matching 81.7 scores. Kristen Palmer (78.7) and Bellfield (74.3) were also impressive despite losses in their head-to-head matchups.

This was the third time this season that Lynchburg and the College of Charleston matched up. The Hornets won 6-4 on September 26 to open the 2025-26 campaign. The Cougars flipped the script on February 27 with a 7-3 victory. Then came Saturday's positive result for Lynchburg to break the tie in the most satisfying way -- with a trophy.