Texas A&M Adds Two Women's Varsity Sports

COLLEGE STATION - Texas A&M University will add women's archery and women's equestrian as varsity intercollegiate sports this fall, Athletic Director Wally Groff announced Thursday.

"We needed to offer more opportunities for female student-athletes for us to achieve compliance with proportionality rules under Title IX," Groff said. "After intensive study and analysis by Senior Associate Athletic Director Lynn Hickey and Assistant Athletic Director Dr. Tina Cheatham, we determined these sports would best fill that need. We think both sports will be a good draw and will be an easy sell to our former students."

Groff said interest on campus, facilities and potential regional competitions were the primary factors considered when researching potential sports. The addition of archery and equestrian gives A&M; a total of 23 varsity sports, including 10 men's sports and 13 women's sports.

"The Student Rec Center has probably the best indoor archery facility in the country and national championships already have been conducted here," Groff said. "As a club team, A&M; has won four straight national titles in archery. We also have good facilities in place for an equestrian program, although improvements are needed. The equestrian team won a national championship in 1994. A&M; has one of the best equine curriculums in the country and has an active equestrian club, so it was a natural fit."

The two sports are considered "emerging sports" by the NCAA and will be guided by their national governing bodies, the National Archery Association and the Intercollegiate Horse Association. As club sports at A&M;, archery and equestrian have been under the direction of the Recreational Sports Department and the Animal Science Department, respectively. The equestrian team will practice and conduct its home shows at the Equestrian Center near F.M. 2818.

Archery initially will offer a maximum of five scholarships with a total squad size of about 20 archers. Equestrian initially will offer no scholarships since the NCAA has not established parameters, but will have a total squad size of close to 75 riders. Both sports have fall and spring schedules with a spring championship.

"We are excited about our women's program gaining varsity status," archery coach Kathy Eissinger said. "We've won four straight national championships as a club sport with the vast majority of our archers coming from beginning classes taught by the kinesiology department. This will allow us to take our program to the next level by recruiting women who are already competing on a national and international level."

Only three Division I schools offer women's archery as a varsity sport - A&M;, James Madison and Columbia University-Barnard College. Six Division I schools offer equestrian as a varsity sport - A&M;, Fresno State, Oklahoma State, South Carolina, Cornell and the College of Charleston. More than 30 schools in all divisions offer equestrian on the varsity level.

"It is really exciting and very appropriate for our women's equestrian team to achieve the varsity level at Texas A&M;", said Dr. Gary D. Potter, Professor of Animal Science and Leader of the Equine Sciences Program. "This new affiliation with the Department of Athletics and the NCAA is a natural fit, and will provide an even stronger sense of competition and pride among students, former students and our friends in the horse industry. The team will become even more competitive, because this new program will allow the university to recruit accomplished young women from several youth equestrian programs across the country. This is the dawn of something very big in intercollegiate equestrian activities across the country."

"Texas A&M; has had a top-rate Equine Sciences program for more than a quarter of a century with students from all over the country participating in the various academic, intramural and extracurricular activities," said Dr. Martha Vogelsang of A&M;'s Department of Animal Sciences. "The increased visibility of the Equine Sciences program through the affiliation with the athletic program will increase the number of students who choose to enroll at A&M; and participate in this program. Students who have previously considered only private institutions with equestrian programs will be more likely to check into the educational and extracurricular Equine Sciences activities that we have to offer. The additional facilities, teaching opportunities and expertise, and potential course offerings will benefit all students who are enrolled in courses in Equine Science (Animal Science Department)."

Archery Tournaments

Date	Day	Event	Site
Nov. 6-7	Sat-Sun.	at Longhorn Invitational	Austin, Texas
Nov. 20-21	Sat-Sun.	AGGIE INVITATIONAL	COLLEGE STATION
Feb. 12-13	Sat-Sun.	at Texas State Indoors	Austin, Texas
March 4-5	Sat-Sun.	INDOOR NATIONALS	COLLEGE STATION
April 7-11	Fri-Tue.	at Arizona Cup	Tucson, Ariz.
April 8-9	Sat-Sun.	at Lone Star FITA	Austin, Texas
April 22-23	Sat-Sun.	at Texas Spring FITA	Austin, Texas
May 18-21	Thu-Sun.	at U.S. Intercollegiate Championships	State College, Pa.
Home events in BOLD, held at the Student Recreation Center Archery Room. (Schedule as of September 9, 1999.)

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Equestrian Shows

Date	Day	Host		Site
Oct. 2	Sat.	Texas	2 Hunt Seat	Canyon, Texas
Oct. 23-24	Sat-Sun.	TEXAS A&M;	3 WESTERN	COLLEGE STATION
Oct. 29-31	Fri-Sun.	Oklahoma State	2 Hunt Seat 2 Western	Stillwater, Okla.
Nov. 13-14	Sat-Sun.	TEXAS A&M;	3 HUNT SEAT	COLLEGE STATION
Nov. 19-20	Sat-Sun.	West Texas A&M;	3 Western	Canyon, Texas
Feb. 12-13	Sat-Sun.	TEXAS A&M;	2 WESTERN	COLLEGE STATION
Feb. 18-19	Fri-Sat.	West Texas A&M;	3 Hunt Seat	Canyon, Texas
March 4	Sat.	Oklahoma State	Regionals	Stillwater, Okla.
April 1	Sat.	West Texas A&M;	Zones	Canyon, Texas
May 12-14	Fri-Sun.		Nationals	Atlanta, Ga.
Home events in BOLD, held at the Dick Freeman Arena. (Schedule as of September 9, 1999.)