March 26, 2009
COLLEGE STATION - The second-ranked Texas A&M equestrian team will compete at the first-ever Big 12 Championship in the sport in Stillwater, Okla., this weekend.
The Aggies (8-3) earned the No. 2 seed for the Big 12 show after posting a 4-2 regular season conference record this season. A&M swept both Kansas State and Oklahoma State while dropping two matches to Baylor.
The Aggies will face host Oklahoma State, the No. 3 seed, in the semifinals of the Big 12 Championship. Top-seeded Baylor will face Kansas State in the other semi-final match-up.
"We are very excited to be part of the first official conference championship for our sport," A&M head coach Tana McKay said. "The girls are also really happy about being part of a major inaugural event like this. I'm so pleased to see the sport continue to flourish in new and exciting ways."
A&M and OSU won the two precursors to the conference championship in the past two seasons. The Aggies won the first-ever Central Championship in College Station in 2007 while the Cowgirls won the competition last season at Kansas State.
The Aggies are coming off an impressive 15-5 decision over No. 10 New Mexico State in Las Cruces two weeks ago while the No. 7 Cowgirls topped No. 5 Auburn, 11-9, on Mar. 14. The last time the two teams met in Stillwater, A&M walked away with a 14-11 victory, their second over the Cowgirls in Oklahoma in the past three seasons.
A&M will take on OSU at 10 a.m. on Friday on the Animal Science Arena grounds on the Oklahoma State campus.