Feb. 24, 2010
WELLINGTON, Fla. - Texas A&M sophomore Maggie Earle (Fallbrook, Calif.) will compete in the inaugural Winter Equitation Festival Collegiate Equitation Challenge on Friday evening at the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center in Wellington, Florida. The competition begins at 6 p.m. (CT).
Earle joins 15 other riders in the event, which will be run in the Varsity Equestrian head-to-head format over an equitation course and will be formatted similar to postseason team tournaments in sports such as college basketball, volleyball and soccer. She will face Sacred Heart University senior Julie Law in the first round of the single-elimination, bracket-format competition. The winner will face the winner of the match between Baylor's Kendra Vicary and Miami's Erika Dagum in the quarterfinals.
"I'm very honored to have been picked to compete in this event," Earle said. "I hope to make my team and Texas A&M proud on Friday."
The 16 competitors were chosen from collegiate equestrian programs across the country, with selections based upon individual national rankings.
"We are excited about this first-time event that the WEF is offering to host," A&M associate head coach Linzy Woolf said. "The WEF is a very prestigious competition that is well-known in our sport around the world, and it's a great opportunity for us in the varsity equestrian circles to get the word out about our exciting sport on the collegiate level."
WEF COLLEGIATE EQUITATION CHALLENGE
First-Round Matchups (in order of bracket) Kansas State* vs Samantha Moore, Florida State Tara Reaves, Miami vs South Carolina* Caroline Cramer, Tennessee-Martin vs South Dakota State* Kacy Jenkins, Georgia vs Oklahoma State*
Maggie Earle, Texas A&M vs Julie Law, Sacred Heart Kendra Vicary, Baylor vs Erika Dagum, Miami Marisa Bernal, New Mexico State vs Auburn* Kristen Collins, SMU vs Kayla Blair, Delaware State
* schools have not announced competitors as of press time