Texas A&M
New Mexico State
Western Riders Roll Into National Championship Match
Apr 17, 2009 | Equestrian
April 17, 2009
WACO, Texas - The Texas A&M equestrian team's western riders steamrolled their way into a Saturday afternoon national title tilt with defending champion TCU thanks to an impressive 7-1 win over rival Oklahoma State on Friday.
The Aggie horsemanship riders, who have yet to drop a match the entire competition, swept the Cowgirls 4-0, winning three of the four matches by more than six points each.
Senior Sibyl Parsons (Combine) turned in the second-best horsemanship score of any rider all week in a high-scoring 150.5-150 triumph over Margaux Tucker. Sophomore Caroline Gunn (Greensburg, Ind.) cruised to a 144.5-137.5 win over Jordan Pickelman while freshman Katie Lisabeth (Canton, Ga.) stayed perfect this week with an impressive 145.5-132.5 win over Courtney Whitacre.
A&M's reining group got the western team off to a solid 3-1 start to begin the match against OSU. Junior Maggie Gratny (Leavenworth, Kan.) led the reining group for the second straight day by posting a team-high score of 143.5 in a two-point win over NRHA Derby champion Leah Kuehn. Senior Amanda Ryan (Ramona, Calif.) and sophomore Tara Christiansen (Snohomish, Wash.) both won their second matches of the competition with Ryan taking down Rachell Shobe, 140.5-137.5, and Christiansen beating Jacque Roberts, 138-130.
The hunter seat team rebounded from a nail-biting 4-3 defeat to Big 12 rival Baylor by beating another Big 12 rival, Kansas State, 6-1, in an elimination match late Friday evening.
The hunter team's flat riders set the table for the fence crew by blanking Kansas State 3-0 in the first half of the competition. Senior Tegan Zealy (Tampa, Fla.) got the ball rolling for the Ags by squeaking out a 125-123 win over Wildcat Leslie Yates. Another senior, Christina Matz (McKinney), turned in the best of her three rides so far this week in a 137-126 victory over Katie Mellon.
Following a 120-120 tie between Brittney Dodson (Amarillo) and Wildcat Whitney Snyder, it was thought the Aggies would drop the fourth and final flat match following runs by Megan Webb (Burlington, W.V.) and KSU's Paige Kovari. However, Sonny, the horse in the final match, was found to be lame during Webb's run and was replaced. After both riders got the chance to compete on a injury-free steed, Webb stepped up tremendously by bringing home a big 139-119 win, allowing A&M to clinch the match with just a single fences victory.
Senior Erin Ivy (Cypress) closed the door on the Aggies' consolation match with the Wildcats thanks to a 148-125 fences win over Jennifer Rawle. Juniors Kristi Waldal (Battle Ground, Wash.) and Lindsay Smith (West Friendship, Md.) both won fences matches against the Wildcats with Waldal beating Whitney Snyder, 156-152, and Smith topping Kendall Marvin, 139-135.
The western squad got to the semifinals after finishing off a dominating 7-0 opening round performance over New Mexico State on Friday morning. A&M's reining group swept all four matches to earn its second win in just over a month over their Aggie counterparts.
Maggie Gratny led the way for the reiners against NMSU by handily beating individual reining qualifier Kate Chesley with the highest reining score of the morning session in a 142.5-137.5 win. Amanda Ryan beat Tonna Brooks, 130-124.
The hunter seat teams' flat group fought back valiantly from a 3-1 deficit to Baylor in the morning but fell one point short after the dust cleared in a tight, tense match. Tegan Zealy won a 115-109 battle against Baylor senior Shelby White to lock the score at 3-3 apiece. Bear senior Cara Wilson rode to a 126-113 win over Megan Webb to allow Baylor to escape the Aggies and advance to the semifinals for the first time ever.
In the individual national championship portion of the meet, defending horsemanship champ and No. 1 seed Caroline Gunn took down Baylor's Allison Orosz, 144-131. Gunn will face No. 5 seed Alyssa Freeman on Saturday morning.
In the first round of the reining individual championship, Tara Christiansen dropped a 137-132.5 decision to Oklahoma State's Bri Parnell.
The Aggies will face defending national champion TCU for the western national championship at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday while the hunter seat group will take on Oklahoma State in the fifth-place match at 10:30 a.m.
Players Mentioned
