Aug. 3, 2010

COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina equestrian coach Boo Major announced the hiring of Carol Gwin as assistant coach for the Gamecocks nationally prominent Hunter Seat team. Gwin will join Major and associate head coach Ruth Sorrel as the team prepares for the 2010-2011 season.

“We are very excited to have someone with Carol’s experience join our staff. Her extensive background in both the college equestrian scene and the USEF horse show world will be a great asset to us,” said Major. “The state of Virginia has a wonderful reputation for producing excellent equestrians in both riding and instructing. I hope Carol’s extensive equestrian background and managerial skills will help lead our team to another national championship in the near future.”

Gwin will serve as the Hunter Seat coach for the two-time overall VENC national championship team. She will oversee a Hunter Seat team that won the national championship three times from 2005-2007. The Gamecocks finished in third place overall at the 2010 Varsity Equestrian National Championships in Waco, Texas in April. South Carolina’s Western and Hunter Seat teams finished third in their brackets, respectively.

“Coaches Boo Major, Ruth Sorrel, and I hope that the 2010-11 season is the best one yet for the Gamecocks,” said Gwin. “In my short time here, I have been warmly welcomed by everyone in the athletic department and I look forward to meeting all of our girls. One Wood Farm is both a beautiful and impressive facility to work out of and I am so excited to be a part of such a well-established equestrian program.”

A 1996 graduate of Mary Washington College, Coach Gwin has been involved in collegiate equestrian for most of her life. She worked at Sweet Briar College from 1996-2000 as a riding instructor and head of the college’s intercollegiate team before returning to Blacksburg, Va. to set up her own boarding and lesson business at Walnut Spring Stables.

Coach Gwin also coached the Radford University Equestrian team for seven years at Walnut Spring Stables. In the past 15 years, Coach Gwin has trained numerous student-athletes to local and national titles in the hunter industry. She rode on the Mary Washington College IHSA team in the open division for four years and has continued to produce quality horses for her clients to ride.

Coach Gwin is a past president of the SWVHJA, a member of the USHJA and USEF, and has judged locally throughout Virginia over the past twenty years. She has been involved with the hunter seat industry since childhood at most capacities.

Gwin and her husband Shaun Leverton come to Blythewood after living in Blacksburg, Va. for the past 20 years.