In search of their fourth overall title and to defend their national championship win last year, the No. 4 seed Texas A&M equestrian team swept the first round of the NCEA National Championships on Wednesday in Waco.
The Aggies came away with three wins in Reining, Horsemanship, and Equitation on the Flat. With a new championship layout, each athlete will be allowed to compete in individual events, as they did today, while also competing as a team with their university.
Head coach, Tana McKay said the addition to the championships this year is exciting because of the new faces that were able to compete this year due to the new layout.
“I’m really excited about this addition of having event championships.” McKay said. “Not only for us as an individual team, but also for the other teams that are here. We have three new teams that have added, and their here because we have these individual event titles. So, we’re excited to welcome them to our championship.”
A&M started off the first event, Reining, with three consecutive wins and finished with a score of 3-1. Reining junior captain, Kaylee McCann started the Aggies off with a win over Fresno State’s Taylor Dixon, 140-138.
Fellow teammates, Darby Gardner and Ashton Dunkel followed closely behind and beat out their opponents 138-136 and 137-135. With the final round of riders up, Fresno State’s Shea Gibson took a point for the Bulldogs after defeating A&M’s Madison Bohman, 134.5-134.
Next up for the day was Equitation on the Flat. The Aggies took on Sweet Briar and came out on top 3-1. Rebekah Chenelle began the event with a 19-point win over opponent, Emily Schlosberg.
Hunt Seat senior, Alex Desiderio continued A&M’s reign and defeated Sweet Briar’s Lily Peterson 157-151. While Brianna Peddicord secured the Aggies another win with in her 23-point win over Katie Balding.
Horsemanship was the last event of the day. A&M didn’t show signs of stopping after sweeping the event against West Texas A&M, 4-0. Bailey Cook, Alex Albright, Sarah Orsak, and Avery Ellis were among the four who took home the last win for the Aggies.
Cook and Orsak started the event with wins over the Lady Buffs’ Catherine Johnson and Rayleigh Rowel, 145-141.5 and 144.5-136. Ellis closed out the event with a composite score of 148 after earning a re-ride against Kendall Woellmer who scored a 140.
The Aggies will look to continue their journey in the quarterfinals on Friday, starting at 8:30 a.m. But, A&M will compete as a team on Thursday in the NCEA Team Championship quarterfinals against Southern Methodist. Competition starts at 8:30 a.m. at the Extraco Events Center in Waco.
The Reining and Equitation on the Flat teams will face Sothern Methodist, while the Horsemanship team will face Baylor on Friday. Equitation on the Fences, who received a No.1 seed and a first-round bye, will take on of University of Texas Martin on Friday at 8:35 a.m.