COLLEGE STATION, Texas-- Texas A&M; Athletic Director Wally Groff and Dr. Gary Potter, Professor of Animal Science and leader of the Equine Sciences Program, announced the hiring of Tana Buckner as the Aggies' first head equestrian coach. Buckner served as the western coach for the Aggies last year while completing the requirements for a master's degree in agriculture.
"We're excited about having someone with the experience and background that Tana has to be our first equestrian coach," Groff said. "We're looking forward to building ourselves up to premiere status at the national level in equestrian. We're also excited about the relationship we currently have with the animal science department and look to build on that in the future."
Equestrian is currently considered an emerging sport by the NCAA, but has the second highest participation rate among Division I emerging sports.
"Tana Buckner has been a significant addition to our Equine Sciences Program over the last two years," Potter said. "She has taken our equestrian team from student-club status through the evolution to varsity status in a very effective manner, leading the team to the national championship show last year. She is a talented rider in her own right, and she is a very effective teacher and coach. Tana is a very pleasant, outgoing person, and she is definitely the right person to lead our women's equestrian team during the next stages of development."
Buckner has spent the past four years coaching the English and western disciplines at Colorado State and Texas A&M; while earning undergraduate and post-graduate degrees in equine science and agriculture, respectively.
"I'm very lucky to be a part of the beginning of this new tradition at Texas A&M;," said Buckner. "I've enjoyed the time that I've spent as a graduate student here and I feel fortunate to be a part of such a reputable institution. Texas provides fantastic resources for those in the horse industry which can do nothing but benefit the university and our equestrian team as a whole. I think its great that we can now offer equestrian athletes an opportunity to pursue their love of horses along with helping to provide for their educations as well."
A native of Littleton, Colorado, Buckner began riding at a young age, taking lessons in the English discipline. The 1991 graduate of Arapahoe High School rode in the rodeo and western heritage club as an underclassman at the University of Colorado before transferring to Colorado State as a junior in 1993 where she began riding in the western discipline.
As a senior at CSU, Buckner won the regional championship in open horsemanship as a western rider while taking the same honors in novice flat in the English discipline. She qualified for nationals in the open horsemanship class that year as well.
While finishing her undergraduate degree, she served as the assistant coach for the Rams' club team and spent most of her summers working for American Quarter Horse Association (AQHA) horse trainers in California and Colorado.
Buckner arrived in College Station in the fall of 1998 to begin work on a master's degree in agriculture with an emphasis in equine behavior. At that point in time, she began coaching the Texas A&M; equestrian club team.
Though her collegiate eligibility had expired, Buckner continued to ride at the alumni level while coaching the A&M; team. She captured the 1999 zone championship in alumni reining while taking the national title in the alumni open horsemanship class. Buckner was named the reserve national champion rider in alumni reining at nationals as well.
After two years of coaching at the club level, the Texas A&M; athletic department adopted women's equestrian as an intercollegiate varsity sport. Buckner was pegged as the team's first-ever varsity western coach.
In only their first year at the varsity level, the A&M; western team placed fifth at nationals and had two riders capture three individual national championships. Junior Robin Marshall won the intermediate horsemanship crown while sophomore Quincy Cahill won both the open reining and AQHA High Point titles. The latter honor acknowledged Cahill as the top western rider in the nation.
All-in-all, Buckner led the Aggies to a top five finish and helped them to capture three of six possible individual championships at the Intercollegiate Horse Show Association (IHSA) National Show all while completing her coursework as a graduate student. Buckner served as an instructor for Equine Behavior and Training, an undergraduate Equine Science course, this past year as well.
Buckner is engaged to Kevin Rawson of Jasper, Texas. They are scheduled to be married on July 29, 2000 in Littleton, Colorado.
BUCKNER'S COACHING CAREER
1996-98: Assistant Coach, Colorado State club team
1998-99: Assistant Head Coach, Texas A&M; club team
1999-00: Assistant Head Coach, Texas A&M; varsity team