Sept. 22, 2006
Columbia, SC – The South Carolina Gamecocks opened their fall season with a victory, defeating the Baylor Bears 11-9 on Friday at OneWood Farm in Blythewood. USC claimed MVP honors in all four categories with Allison Bradley- horsemanship, Rachel Sternoff- reining, Kristen Terebesi- equitation over fences, and Carly Johns- equitation.
“Today we definitely had some first competition jitters that hopefully we were able to work out and will prepare us better for Auburn next weekend,” Head Coach Boo Duncan said. “Baylor has a very good, young team, but I felt that we also used a lot of young kids today. The younger group did very well and I’m really excited with their performances.”
Using the new scoring system implemented by the NCAA, points are accumulated for each individual win.
The Gamecocks won the hunt seat division by a score of 801-766. The hunt seat riders defeated their opponents six out of the ten rounds. Led by seniors Cate Sands, Kelley Campbell, Sarah Lowe, and Carly Johns, the Gamecocks outscored the Bears 419 to 386 in equitation. Freshman Carly Babcock also recorded her first collegiate win by defeating opponent Shelby White 76-75. In equitation over fences, the Gamecocks defeated their opponents 382-380. Junior Kristen Terebesi led the way for the Gamecocks as she defeated Nicole Brown 86-84. Also competing were senior Ellen Hogate, sophomore LIndsey Pace, and freshmen Megan Massaro and Nicole Bourgeois.
The western team fell to the Bears, being outscored 698-629. The riders had a strong showing in the horsemanship category, which helped the team win the overall competition. The Gamecocks fell short in the reining competition by a margin of 71 points. Competing in the western division for the Gamecocks was senior Rachel Sternoff, juniors Allison Bradley, Michelle Grah, Lindsay Williams, Jamie Diamond, sophomores Katie Grossnickle, Rebekah Roof, and freshmen Amy Biffle and Kristina Papendick. Bradley and Sternoff were the high point scorers in western. Both recorded scores of 73. Bradley defeated Amanda Graber 73-72, while Sternoff beat Beth Banister by the same score.
The Gamecocks are now 1-0 in the hunt seat, 0-1 in western and 1-0 overall. Their next competition will be Saturday, Sept. 30 against the National Champion Auburn Tigers in Blythewood. The competition is scheduled for 10:00 AM.
