The No. 5 A&M Equestrian lost to No.4 South Carolina on Saturday in a tiebreaker 10-10 (1,421.5-1,358) at the One Wood Farm.
To start the day, the first event was Flat. Junior Caroline Dance earned Most Outstanding Player (MOP) honors and scored the Aggies their first point of the day by defeating Tyler Petrie of USC, 87-80. From South Carolina, Hayden Stewart scored a 77 in Flat, Grady Lyman scored an 82 and Rhian Murphy scored an 80, all earning their team a point.
A&M freshman Kaitlyn Lovingfoss secured her first win of the season against South Carolina’s Billi Brandner 75-67.
A&M earned the first three points in Horsemanship. Senior Ashley Davidson led the group with a season-high score of 77.5 and secured MOP honors. Fellow senior Katie Conklin took home the point against South Carolina’s Caroline Gute, 76-74.5, while junior Alex Albright’s score of 74.5 took the lead over Gabby Brassard’s 72.5.
In Reining, freshman Emmy-Lu Marsh earned the point with a score of 59 over Addie Cromer’s score of 0. Earning them a point in Reining, South Carolina’s Natalie Vargo scored a 65. Aggie, Marissa Harrell closed the event with a team-high of 67.5 over Jordan Scott’s score of 67. Because of this, Harrell was named MOP of the Reining event.
A&M’s Haley Redifer scored a 74 to kick off the Fences event. USC’s Louisa Brackett topped Grace Boston’s score, 87-50. Junior Hayden Stewart surpassed Grady Lyman, 82-78, while Dance took the point against Jordan Allen, 84-83. Another notable moment was when Lovingfoss’s score of 75 topped Tyler Petrie’s score of 68. Thanks to the help of these three athletes, the Aggie Fences team secured a 3-2 win over South Carolina.
“I am proud of this team,” A&M coach Tana McKay told 12thman.com after the game. “Coming away with three MOPs was fantastic. We had a lot of good rides on some challenging horses. We made a few critical errors that just can’t happen. We will continue to clean those up as we prepare for our next meet against SMU.”
The Equestrian team will head to Dallas to compete against the SMU Mustangs at 10 a.m. on Saturday at the Dallas Equestrian Center.