April 18, 2007
The hunter seat, or English, half of the Texas A&M equestrian team highlighted the first day of competition at the 2007 Varsity Equestrian National Championships by securing a first round win against SMU.
The hunter seat riders earned a convincing 6-2 victory, winning 3-1 in both the fences and flat categories. The win over SMU was the Aggies?â„¢ second of the season. A&M won a tiebreaker over the Mustangs in the home opener on Oct. 15 after riding to a 6-6 draw.
?SMU was our opening show of the year and one of the first real times for us to truly get into this new varsity format,? A&M hunter seat coach Linzy Woolf said. ?We were still quite a bit of novices at it then and still trying to get the hang of it. The team has really matured a lot throughout the year. The girls have constantly progressed and gotten better and better. We?â„¢ve gotten smarter and more accurate in our execution and it showed today.?
Junior Ashlie Soderstrom?â„¢s (Lake Oswego, Ore.) 131-130 squeaker on the flat over SMU?â„¢s Kristen Collins clinched the English victory for the Aggies.
A&M?â„¢s top fences round was turned in by freshman Lindsay Smith (West Friendship, Md.). Smith earned scores of 83 and 82 from the judges to best SMU?â„¢s Lauren Hester, 165-156. Smith?â„¢s point total over fences was the second-best of any rider during the first round.
Sophomore co-captain Courtney Brooks (Alamo, Calif.) secured the Aggies?â„¢ final English win of the first round by turning in A&M highest flat score of the round. Brooks earned a 144-129 victory over the Mustangs?â„¢ Megan Davenport.
Other English riders earning first round victories were junior Katie Henion (Austin), 133-100.5; sophomore Christina Matz (McKinney), 127-106, on the flat; and Kristi Waldal (Battle Ground, Wash.), 158-83.
With the win, the No. 5 seed hunter seat riders advanced into the quarterfinals to face No. 4 seed Auburn. That match is currently in progress with Auburn holding a 3-1 advantage. Katie Henion turned in the highest scores of her entire riding career in earning the Aggies?â„¢ lone victory over fences. Henion defeated Auburn?â„¢s Lauren Hulen, 171-166, after earning scores of 86 and 85 from the two judges.
?Katie was very confident in her warm-up and had a good feel of the horse,? Woolf said. ?It can be hard in this smaller warm-up ring to get much pace built up and really find good distances. However I could tell whenever she stepped in into the ring that she really had it covered. She had a solid ride. I couldn?â„¢t have asked for more from her.?
The top-seeded Aggie western team is locked in a 2-2 battle with the host Bears after the horsemanship competition. Super sophomore Tonna Brooks (Newberg, Ore.) moved her seasonal record to 22-0 with a convincing 143-135.5 win over Baylor?â„¢s Ashleigh Brown. Fellow soph Sibyl Parsons (Combine) scraped out a 143.5-143 victory over the Bears?â„¢ Amanda Graber as well.
The second half of the Aggies?â„¢ English match versus Auburn and western match versus Baylor will start at 8:30 a.m. on Thursday at the Heart O?â„¢ Texas Fair Complex.