April 18, 2018
2018 NCEA Championship Day #1
WACO, Texas — The University of South Carolina equestrian team opened the 2018 NCEA Championship in fine fashion Wednesday, winning three of its four matchups in the first round of single-event competition. The Gamecocks advanced to the quarterfinals of equitation on the flat, equitation over fences and reining on the opening day at the Extraco Events Center.
In equitation on the flat, Carolina swept TCU, 4-0, and in equitation over fences they tied Baylor, 2-2, but advanced on the tiebreaker, 637-630. Carolina’s lone loss came to Baylor in horsemanship, 3-1, but they earned a second sweep over TCU in reining, 4-0.
The day began with ninth-seeded Carolina winning all four points in reining for a 4-0 sweep of No. 8-seed TCU. Bailey Walters earned a 138-137.5 win over Elena Hurd on Callie, and Paisley Roberts followed with a 142.5-140.5 victory over Anna Adams on Mercedes. Caroline Gute clinched the victory with a 141.5-140.5 triumph on Banjo over Carly Lombard, and Jordan Scott added the final point, a 138.5-138 win over Claire Dittrich on Mac.
The Carolina reiners advance to face top-seeded Georgia in the event quarterfinals Friday at 8:30 a.m. CT. The Bulldogs had a bye and did not compete Wednesday.
In equitation over fences, sixth-seeded Carolina took the first two points and 11th-seeded Baylor earned the second two. Madison Brayman rode Lux to a 143-121 triumph over Gabby Conte, and Chloe Schmidt defeated Shannon Hogue on Mable, 167-165. Baylor’s Abby Jorgensen came back with a 175-167 win over Lizzie van der Walde on Caraway, and Madison Day defeated Lauren Fabiano on Wizz, 169-160. The tie was broken by raw score, where Carolina took a 637-630 advantage.
Carolina’s equitation over fences riders will take on No. 3-seed Auburn Friday at 8:30 a.m. CT. The Tigers defeated Minnesota-Crookston Friday, 3-1.
Carolina fell to Baylor in horsemanship, 3-1. Gute earned a Gamecock point, defeating Elizabeth Forney on Willy, 146-140.5, but the 11th-seeded Gamecocks were eliminated by the sixth-seeded Bears.
The No. 10-seeded Gamecocks ended the day with a clean sweep over No. 7 TCU in equitation on the flat. Madison Sellman secured a 163-154 win over Emilie Burgess on Ariado, and Brayman won for the second time in one day with a 162-152 victory on Clover over Carly Burnett. Freshman Louisa Brackett brought home her first career NCEA Championship point with a 159-154 triumph over Mady Fithian on Angelo, and Schmidt closed the day with a 161-159 win over Jayme Omand on Swag.
In equitation on the flat, the Gamecocks will match up Friday with second-seeded Auburn, who dropped Minnesota-Crookston, 4-0, on Wednesday. That competition is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. CT.
NOTABLE
• Three Gamecocks went 2-0 on Wednesday: Brayman and Schmidt in the hunt seat arena and Gute on the western side.
• Sellman (163 in equitation on the flat) and Roberts (142.5 in reining) were each high-point scorers on Wednesday in their events.
FROM THE COACH
“It really was a good day today. I think when you look across the board, we really had a good time today. I know our horsemanship riders are a little disappointed that they didn’t have a better go today, but overall it was a good day, a fun day. We really worked hard the last couple of weeks, and we wanted to show that we’re better than our record, which I think we were able to do today. We’ve just got to take the momentum that we had today and carry it through to tomorrow and the rest of the week.”– Head Coach Boo Major
UP NEXT FOR THE GAMECOCKS
The Gamecocks now turn their attention to the NCEA Championship team competition, which begins Thursday in Waco. No. 8 Carolina will square off with No. 1 Georgia beginning at 8:30 a.m. CT.
