The No. 4 Texas A&M equestrian team’s season has come to an end by means of a 9-6 defeat in the NCEA quarterfinals at the hands of conference rival No. 5 Auburn.

The Aggies (8-7, 3-3 SEC) took the first point in reining when junior All-American Logan Pluhar edged out her opponent by a single point. That would be the Aggies’ last lead in the match, however, as the Tigers took the next two points in the discipline with a combined margin of 11 points. Junior Hannah Williams took the final reining point with a score of 139 to tie the match up 2-2.

The Tigers (9-8, 1-5 SEC), however, pulled away after completing the 4-0 sweep of Equitation on the Flat. Senior All-American Haley Buchmiller and junior Marlena Parker both posted solid scores of 171 for the Aggies, only to be bested by the stellar marks of 177 and 179 set by Auburn.

Trailing 6-2, the Aggies were unable to generate any momentum in the Fences discipline. The Aggies were defeated 3-1 in the discipline with the single point being produced by Parker when she edged out her opponent by a score of 143-134.

Losing 9-3 going into the final round of competition, the Aggies performed admirably by taking the horsemanship discipline by a 3-0-1 margin. Pluhar, senior Molli Jacobs and freshman Avery Ellis all scored points for the Aggies in the final round. Sophomore Kaci Fisher, the last rider for the A&M, rode her opponent to a 136.5-136.5 tie that cancelled out the final point.

The Aggies were the only SEC team that failed to make the final four at this year’s championship, but this was still a season of firsts for the Aggies who christened a brand new facility with the program’s first ever trip to the SEC Championship Game.
The Aggies also finished the season with five of their eight season wins coming against top ten programs, a testament to the high level of competition the team has to face in the sport’s toughest conference. With South Carolina taking this year’s NCEA crown, the four SEC teams remain the only programs ever to win a NCEA Equestrian Title.