Texas A&M
SFA
English Riders, Western Youth Push Aggies to First Varsity Win
Sep 30, 2006 | Equestrian
September 30, 2006
The Texas A&M equestrian team opened its first full-time foray into varsity equestrian with an 11-5 win over Stephen F. Austin at the Walter C. Todd Agricultural Research Farm on Saturday.
The Aggies were led by a dominating 7-1 performance in the English division. A&M shut out the Lady Jacks, 4-0, in equitation over fences and earned a 3-1 win in equitation on the flat.
?Our girls were a little bit concerned coming into today with not knowing these horses,? A&M English coach Linzy Woolf said. ?We?™re so used to primarily competing on the road against either Oklahoma State or West Texas A&M that it was definitely a curve ball for us. There were a lot of things that were totally new but we adjusted very well. After warming up the horses, the girls were able to get a good read on them. They made good use out of their warm-up time.?
Junior Ashlie Soderstrom (Lake Oswego, Ore.), a former novice rider in the old Intercollegiate Horse Show Association system, proved to be A&M?™s top flat rider, defeating SFA?™s Rebecca Harrison, 83-77. Soderstrom was named the top flat rider of the show by the judge.
?Ashlie?™s always been a strong rider for us,? Woolf said. ?I knew she would fit well into this format because she is so good at getting the most out of a horse and making adjustments to different ones. I expected good things from her and she did exactly what I thought she would. She rose to the occasion for us.?
Veteran Erica Palomo (St. Petersburg, Fla.) used her experience to turn in the highest score of any rider in either discipline on Saturday. Palomo defeated Kristin Landes, 86-84, to earn top fence rider honors.
Both of A&M English newcomers turned in victories in their collegiate debuts. Freshman Lindsay Smith (West Friendship, Md.) defeated Tara Solbrig, 73-70, on the flat while freshman Kristi Waldal topped Alex Berry, 79-77, over fences.
?Our new girls seemed very confident competing in the new format,? Woolf said. ?They were very receptive to what I had to offer them in the way of advice. This is different from what they?™ve ever done before as far as having to ride unfamiliar horses. They did a really good job of riding these horses.?
Other English riders picking up wins against SFA were Viviana Cordero (Sunland, Calif.), 81-76, over Randi Spencer over fences; Katie Henion (Austin), 82-74, over Alex Fincher over fences; and Lindsey Lawrence (College Station), 75-62, over Kristin Landes on the flat.
On the western side, the Aggies fought to a 4-4 draw against SFA. The Aggies won the horsemanship division, 3-1, while falling, 3-1, in reining.
A&M?™s stellar freshman class flexed their muscles as the two that competed both earned wins in horsemanship and reining. Caroline Gunn (Greensburg, Ind.) squeaked out a 72.5-72 win over the Ladyjacks?™ Monika Brindley in horsemanship while Maggie Gratny (Leavenworth, Kan.) scored A&M?™s lone reining win, an impressive 70.5-61 effort over SFA veteran Jamie Melgares.
?This was a good start or initiation, I guess you could say, for the freshmen,? A&M head coach Tana Rawson said. ?Maggie did a really nice job of working through her maneuvers and had a really nice pattern. Both girls were mentally right where they needed to be even though both were doing something they have never done before (competing on unfamiliar horses). They held it together very well for a first time experience like this.?
A&M sophomore Sibyl Parsons (Combine) was named the top horsemanship rider of the day after turning in the highest western score of the day in a 74-69 victory over Kyra Kruse in horsemanship.
?Sibyl had a phenomenal ride,? Rawson said. ?It was pretty much flawless. That was fun to watch.?
Senior Jordan Gardner (Lipan) turned in the Aggies?™ fourth victory, a 69-0 win over SFA?™s Jenny Martin, who went off-pattern.
The Aggies will spend the next two weeks preparing for their first home competition of the year. A&M will host Delaware State on Sunday, Oct. 15 at 9 a.m., then come right back and take on SMU at 2 p.m. later that same day.
