Coming off a 12-8 win against No. 7 South Carolina, the No. 1 Texas A&M equestrian team will hit the road for the second time this season as they compete against No. 2 Georgia at the UGA Equestrian Center in Bishop, Georgia and unranked Delaware State at the Gambler’s Choice Equestrian Center in Dover, Delaware.
The Aggies (3-0, 1-0 SEC) continue to lead the team rankings going in into their third week of competition. Coming off a bye-week, A&M head coach Tana McKay said the team is looking forward to going on the road against two tough teams and competing.
“We are excited to have two tough road meets after having last weekend off,” McKay told 12thman.com. “Georgia is always a tough team, especially in Athens, so we know we have our work cut out for us. We haven’t been to Delaware State since 2015 so we will be seeing some unfamiliar horses, but we have had some good practices the last two weeks. I am excited to see us go out there and compete.”
This will be the first home meet for the Georgia Bulldogs and a homecoming for Hunt Seat coach Abby O’Mara who was a member of the team from 2011-2014. During her time there, she earned two All-SEC selections in Equitation over Fences, along with two NCEA All-American honors.
A&M junior Rebekah Chenelle and senior Avery Ellis’ performance during the first three meets earned them NCEA September Rider of the Month and SEC Rider of the Month honors, respectively.
After defeating her opponents by an average of 10 points and scoring a perfect 2-0 mark in Horsemanship, Ellis received the Shorty’s Horsemanship Rider of the Month award.
Like her teammate, Chenelle is adding to her list of accomplishments this season after being awarded the Equifit Equitation in Flat and Equitation over Fences Rider of the Month honors.
She recorded a 3-0 on Flat and scored the Aggies second-highest score of the season, 93 against both South Dakota State and South Carolina. Chenelle landed a perfect 3-0 in Fences, while also leading an undefeated Hunt Seat team.
The last time the Aggies competed against the Bulldogs was at last year’s NCEA Championships when the Aggies defeated them 11-5.
Last season the Aggies went 2-0 against the Hornets defeating them in Nov.18-2 and in the first round of the NCEA Championship 13-2.
Both meets will begin at 10 a.m., with the team playing in Georgia on Friday morning, then traveling to Delaware for the Saturday match. For live updates of Friday’s meet visit www.GeorgiaDogs.com, and scoring for Saturday’s meet can be found on 12thman.com.