April 16, 2010
View Updated Western Bracket in PDF Format 
WACO, Texas – The No. 10 seed South Carolina Western team fell 6-2 to No. 6 seed Kansas State in the semifinals of the Western bracket at the 2010 Varsity Equestrian National Championships in Waco, hosted by Baylor University at the Heart O’ Texas Fair Coliseum. The Gamecocks will compete Saturday morning for third-place against Georgia.
“I know our Western girls are disappointed about tonight, but they should be very proud of the weekend they had,” head coach Boo Major said. “For us to be ten-seed, and beat a tough seven-seed and a two-seed, there’s not much more I can ask for out of them. They put together some great rides when they needed to and I’m proud of their run”
The Gamecocks got wins by juniors Chloe Gray and Lydia Roof in Reining, and were tied 2-2 heading into Horsemanship. Roof and Gray each went 3-0 this weekend.
“Lydia and Chloe had outstanding weekends for us,” Major said. “Their leadership this season has been outstanding for our reiners. Our freshman struggled some this weekend, but this being their first time here, we obviously expected them to go through a bit of a learning curve. Going forward, this will prove to be a great experience and a great opportunity for them to go against the best reiners in the country.”
Auburn swept Horsemanship 4-0, securing the 6-2 win.
“Up until tonight, I felt like our Horsemanship girls had a consistent weekend for us,” Major said. “We had some mental errors tonight that we couldn’t bounce back from, but overall they had a good weekend.”
Eliminated from championship contention, the Western team will compete against Georgia on Sunday for third-place in the Western bracket.
“Georgia has proven to be a great team all year long, and we should know since we’ve competed against them twice during the regular season. I know our Western girls want to end the season with a win, especially for our seniors Emily Bookwalter and Amy Biffle, so hopefully we show up prepared tomorrow.
