Texas A&M
Delaware State
Hunter Seat Riders Zip Past Delaware State 7-1 at Nationals
Apr 16, 2009 | Equestrian
April 16, 2009
WACO, Texas - The Texas A&M equestrian team's hunter seat half began the Varsity Equestrian National Championships (VENC) with a bang by beating Delaware State, 7-1, during the first round of competition on Thursday at the Heart O' Texas Fair Complex.
The Aggie fence riders started the match by dominating the Hornets, 4-0, and in doing so posted three of the five highest scores out of the 32 total fence rides amongst the eight teams participating in the first round.
Junior Kristi Waldal (Battle Ground, Wash.) earned the largest margin of victory amongst the four fence riders thanks to a 162-141.5 triumph over Kayleigh Karnbach. Senior Erin Ivy (Cypress) beat Hornet junior Kammera Brown, 157-145.5 while sophomore Brooke Coleman scored a 152-150 win over Kayla Blair.
"The fence girls were solid," A&M hunter seat coach Linzy Woolf said. "It was really nice to get an opportunity to get a feel for how the courses will ride and a feel for the environment of the show in our match against Delaware State.. Our team has high expectations and we did a good job of starting off on the right foot. We're looking forward to getting out there and taking care of business tomorrow."
Junior Christina Heine (Toledo, Ohio) earned the biggest win of the day for the flat foursome, scoring a 148-128 victory over Delaware State's Ashley Butler. Senior Christina Matz (McKinney) and junior Brittney Dodson (Amarillo) both tallied a total of 116 en route to victories. Matz beat Kammera Brown by a point while Dodson grabbed a 13-point win over Carolina Foltz.
A&M's top-seeded western squad began its national championship show late in the day by making loud and clear that all comers had better bring their `A' game. One year after being upset in the quarterfinals, the western squads' lowest of four horsemanship scores equaled the highest score of any competitor on each of the other three teams that competed on Thursday evening. The western squad heads into Friday's reining portion with a 3-0 lead and a huge tiebreaker advantage in the unlikely event of a draw.
Sophomore Caroline Gunn (Greensburg, Ind.) earned a big win of her own, taking down Codi Binkerd, 148.5-137. Freshman Tonna Brooks, 144.5-141. Senior Sibyl Parsons (Combine) tied two-time individual nationals qualifier Kate Chesley at 145.5 points apiece.
"We were very mentally focused today," A&M horsemanship coach Beth Bass. "I could tell from the time they came down to the arena to ride that they were going to come out on top and they were going to leave no doubt. Randi was first to go and she really set the standard for us. We're glad to be able to come through and put the team in position to get through to the next round."
A&M's fifth-seeded hunter seat riders faced off against fourth-seeded Baylor's group over fences to start their quarterfinal match-up late Thursday with Bears jumping out to a 3-1 advantage. Lindsay Smith improved to 2-0 at nationals with a high-scoring 167-166.5 shootout victory over the Bears' Kendra Vicary. Despite being down 3-1 with four flat matches go, the Aggies did keep their margin of defeat close in their three losses and stand only 14 points back in the tiebreaker system.
The Aggies' reining competition versus New Mexico State and flat competition against Baylor will begin at 8:30 a.m. on Friday morning.
Players Mentioned
