Sept. 25, 2008
COLLEGE STATION - The Texas A&M equestrian team will begin the 2008-09 season on Friday at 10 a.m. against Fresno State (0-2) at the Brazos County Expo Center.
The Aggies are led by head coach Tana McKay who is beginning her 11th year with the equestrian team, 10 of which have come under the auspices of the Texas A&M athletic department.
"The past 10 years have been fun," McKay said. "It's been a long road. There have been some dramatic changes. There are not very many people that have been on the ground floor of a sport and helped guide it through all the changes it has undergone. Looking back at all the little bitty ideas that we had 10 years ago and now seeing us realize those and move well above and beyond those small ideas is extremely fulfilling. There are a lot of young, female athletes that are now being affected by our program across the country."
After years of planning, the team's move to the recently built Expo Center was made a reality this month. During the first week of school, the team moved its 40-plus herd of horses into temporary stalls on the Expo Center grounds while the team barn is being built on another part of the property. All the team's practices this semester have taken place in the 70,000 square foot, 3,000-seat main competition arena that will host Friday's competition against Fresno State.
"We're really excited to both be in this new facility and be able to promote this facility to the community," McKay said. "The staff at the Expo Center has been great in helping us get ready for this competition. The venue in itself is awesome. We are excited to let the public see what we are doing."
The Aggies' top returning rider is horsemanship national champion Caroline Gunn (Greensburg, Ind.) who is in the midst of a school-record 12-match win streak. Gunn posted a 15-2-1 record as a sophomore last season. A&M also returns 11 of the 16 riders that led the team to a second consecutive second place overall finish at the 2008 Varsity Equestrian National Championships.
Fresno State is coming off road losses to perennial national title contenders Auburn and Georgia to start the season. The Bulldogs opened their season with a 13-3 defeat at the hands of 2006 national champion Auburn last Friday. On Sunday, FSU almost dealt national champion Georgia its first-ever home varsity loss, taking an 8-7 lead going into the final discipline (reining), but fell in the end, 12-8.
"Fresno is a similar team to us in that they have a large squad size so they should have a lot of depth," McKay said. "Everybody's recruiting has stepped up in just the last couple of years and I think there is going to be extreme talent across the board on all of the teams we will face. Fresno State has recruited some excellent talent so I'm interested to see that. They obviously had a good showing against the University of Georgia at Georgia, a place where no other school has gone in and won. It should be a good competition."
The Aggies won the only prior overall meeting between the two schools, a 14-6 win in Fresno on Feb. 17-18, 2007.
The two teams' hunter seat squads have met two additional times with A&M coming away with wins in both instances. The Aggies earned a 365-343 win under the old varsity format in the first round of the Big Eight Tournament in Georgia on Oct. 7, 2005. They also earned a 4-3 win over FSU in the third round of the Varsity Equestrian National Championships on April 20, 2007, in Waco.
Texas A&M equestrian shows are free of charge. The 12th Man Team Rewards Program will be in attendance to stamp/scan fans and the 2007-08 Texas A&M Equestrian Media Guide will be available for sale as well.
The Brazos County Expo Center is located at 5827 Leonard Road in Bryan, Texas.