Sept. 30, 2006

Columbia, SC – The USC equestrian team beat the defending national champion Auburn Tigers 12-7 on Saturday at OneWood Farm in Blythewood. USC swept the Tigers 5-0 in the equitation over fences category.

“I’m very proud of the hunt seat team, it was a big turnaround from last weekend,” Head Coach Boo Duncan said. “I’m pleased with the western team and their riding. If we can get the reining up to where I know it can be, then we will be fine. We are not very deep in reining and had some new faces competing this weekend, but overall we performed well.”

The Gamecocks won the hunt seat division by a score of 8-2. Led by seniors Carly Johns, Sarah Lowe, and Kelley Campbell, the Gamecocks outscored Auburn 3-2 in the equitation category. Also competing in equitation were senior Cate Sands and junior Kristen Terebesi. In equitation over fences, USC defeated each of their opponents for a score of 5-0. Earning the win for the Gamecocks in equitation over fences were seniors Lindsay Pace and Kelley Campbell, junior Kristen Terebesi, sophomore Sarah Stephens, and freshman Alex Haskell. USC also claimed MVP honors in both categories with Carly Johns winning equitation with a score of 77 and Sarah Stephens winning equitation over fences with a score of 86.

The western team fell to the Tigers 5-4. The riders outscored the Tigers 3-2 in horsemanship, but came up short in the reining category 3-1. Senior Rachel Sternoff, juniors Lindsay Williams and Allison Bradley, sophomores Katie Grossnickle and Rebekah Roof, and freshmen Kristina Papendick and Amy Biffle competed for the western team. Katie Grossnickle was the high scorer in horsemanship, defeating Kylie Miller 73-71.5. Her victory earned her the MVP in the horsemanship category.

The Gamecocks improve to 2-0 on the season. Their next competition will be Saturday, Oct. 6 against the University of Georgia Bulldogs in Athens, GA. The competition will begin at 2:00 PM.