TRYON, N.C. – The SCAD equestrian team won its fourth National Championship of the year on Sunday, being named the Champion at the 2026 IHSA National Championship.
 
The 2026 IHSA National Championship held at Tryon International Equestrian Center brought the top two teams together from each of the eight intercollegiate Zones in the USA and Canada for an intense week of competition. The top two individual riders from each zone also competed for the National titles in a separate phase of classes. There were 67 hunt seat horses that came from all of the schools to participate in the random draw for all of the competitors.
 
The Cacchione Cup is another phase of competition at the Championship and SCAD's Alex Alston was aiming his sights on as defending National Champion, while the team set their sights on bringing home the National Team title again since winning it last in 2024. 
 
Prior to the start of the competition, The United State Hunter Jumper Association offered students to compete in the Horsemanship Quiz Challenge to test their knowledge and skills. SCAD won the inaugural event last year and had more students join in to compete this year. The USHJA hosted a competitor discussion during the competition, and last year's individual winner Ella Luhn sat on the discussion panel. 
 
Day one of the competition kicked off with most of the individual classes and one team class. Junior Peter Cavagnac started the day off with winning the National Champion title in the Individual Limit over-fences, earning the high score of the day with a 90! Cavagnac then returned later to win Reserve National Champion in the Individual Limit Flat.
 
Senior Kayla Bardgett competed with the top 16 Individual Open Flat riders to respectively earn an honorable mention. 
 
Senior Lexie Stoebenau was awarded 10^th in the country in the Individual Novice Flat.
 
Freshman Nathaniel Biery started the Team classes off with winning the National Title in the Team Limit Flat class. SCAD has now been undefeated in the Team limit flat division for three years in a row!
 
Day two continued with the Team intermediate over-fences class and Junior Alex Miller continued to put solid points on the leaderboard for SCAD earning a fifth-place ribbon. 
 
Biery then stepped into the arena to earn an eighth-place ribbon in the Team Limit over-fences. 
 
The day then jumped up a level going into the intensity of the Cacchione Cup over fences round. Alston rode to a stunning score of a 92 to lead the first phase of the competition as his score was highest score of the whole show. After a small break and clearing of the arena, the Cacchione Cup flat testing began where the riders were split into two groups of 12 to ride. Alston scored the highest flat score of the Cacchione Cup testing with an 88. The judges chose to call back the top 7 riders of the Cacchione Cup for additional testing on the last day!

The team classes continued on Saturday with Junior Sophia Iglesias entering into the Team Introductory division for the first time winning another National Champion title for SCAD. SCAD has won this specific class a total of four times over the years which is very special in memory of a former Introductory rider. 

Senior Madison Poulin stepped into the arena next for the Team novice division, her second time competing for the team in this class, Madison worked off for a solid placing as sixth in the country helping our teams scores advance.
 
Day three of the competition started with high tension as SCAD was coming into the Team Classes for the Collegiate Cup with a two-point difference from the lead having three classes to go. At the IHSA National Championship there are 16 riders in each class, and only the top 10 riders earn points for their team on the leaderboard.
 
Prior to the mounted classes starting, the USHJA Horsemanship quiz challenge winners were announced and for the second consecutive year, SCAD students were the winners! Alex Miller was the only student to earn an 100% on the specific quiz he took, but all of their scores combined earned the title; the participants included: Ella Luhn, Nathaniel Biery, Delia Beaupre, Alex Miller, Emily Arriaga, Mackenzie Paul, Addie Keyworth, Lauren Simoneau, Peter Cavagnac, and Alex Alston. 
 
The mounted competition started immediately after with Alston in the Team open over-fences. The Senior had a huge win for the team earning another score of a 90 winning Alston the National title in that Class.
 
Immediately following was the work-off test for the Cacchione Cup and Alston, for the first time in the competition, drew one of SCAD's horses.  Alex and Bon-Bon displayed an incredibly beautiful test answering all of the questions exactly how the judges had wanted. Alston Won the National Champion Title for the Cacchione Cup!  Alex made IHSA history being only the second person to have won the Cacchione Cup consecutively; the last time was 1981-1982. Alex joins an elite group of athletes!
 
Check out the IHSA's story on Alex Alston here!
 
Though the excitement was high the Team events were not done and with two classes to go it was still anyone's game!
 
Cavagnac stepped back into the arena for the Team intermediate Flat class and was tested until the final three were left on the rail. Cavagnac won the National title in the Team Intermediate flat, making it his second National title of the show with one reserve!
 
With one class left to go, Alston was warmed up and back on the for the Team Open Equitation on the flat. SCAD had one school at this point that could mathematically beat them, and the pressure was on. The judges tested the students until the top two were left on the rail, one of which was Alston who rode five different times at the National Championship and each time won! Alex's final win in the Team Open Equitation on the Flat secured the National Title for the team, making history as the Highest Final score on the leaderboard in IHSA!
 
SCAD students and horses put on a dominating performance of talent and horsemanship! One of SCAD's horses, Quinn won the title of earning the most wins at the Championship for the second year in a row. SCAD brought 16 horses to compete in the random draw of the competition and throughout the entire competition SCAD only drew their own horses twice! Once in an individual class on the flat, and second in the final work-off for the Cacchione Cup, a true testament to the riding talent of this National Championship Team.
 
OVERALL TEAM RESULTS:
National Champions for the 5^th time: SCAD - 61 points
Reserve National Champions: Skidmore College- 47 points
3^rd: Centenary University- 44 points
4^th: University of Lynchburg- 28 point
5^th: Otterbein University- 27 points
6^th: Long Island University- 23 points
7^th (*tie): Purdue University- 21.5 points
7^th: Miami University of Ohio- 21.5 points
8^th: Goucher College- 20 points
9^th: Delaware Valley University- 15 points
10^th: University of Wisconsin- Madison-14.5 points
Stanford- 12 points
University of Rhode Island- 12 points
Berry College- 11.5 points
Mount Holyoke College- 6 points