Feb. 4, 2013
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COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina redshirt sophomore Amber Henter has been invited to participate in the fourth annual Collegiate Equitation Challenge at the Winter Equestrian Festival this weekend in Wellington, Fla. The event will take place on Friday in the International Arena at the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center.
“Amber will do a great job representing us at the WEF Equitation Challenge this coming weekend. She has performed amazingly well this year due to her hard work ethic and willingness to get better,” South Carolina head coach Boo Major said. “She has shown leadership in all aspects of the team and I can’t think of anyone more deserving and prepared. All of us wish Amber great success this Friday and hope she brings home the trophy again this year.”
The event will be conducted utilizing the NCEA head-to-head bracketed format with the 16 top collegiate riders from across the country. Participating riders will compete over an equitation course that features heights up to three feet, six inches.
Competition begins at 2 p.m. with the preliminary round, which includes each of the 16 riders. The eight winners qualify for the finals to be held in the evening session at 7 p.m., while the remaining eight horses will contest a consolation bracket immediately following the preliminary round. For the second consecutive year, the competition will include a four-rider equitation on the flat tournament that will occur during the finals.
Henter, who was elected captain of the Hunt Seat team before the season, is 6-1 in Equitation Over Fences this season. She is second on the team in total wins behind senior Kimberly McCormack, but leads the team in single-event wins, as McCormack’s seven wins have come from competing both in Equitation Over Fences and Equitation on the Flat.
Henter has already amassed 18 career wins at South Carolina, with 16 coming in Equitation Over Fences, tying her with fellow sophomore Katherine Schmidt for the sophomore-class lead in career wins in a single event.
Henter will become the fourth Gamecock to compete at the Collegiate Equitation Challenge. Last year, both McCormack and Schmidt represented South Carolina, with McCormack winning the Equitation Over Fences championship and Schmidt finishing second in the Equitation on the Flat bracket. McCormack also competed in 2011 as a sophomore. In 2010, then-senior Nicole Bourgeois competed in the inaugural Collegiate Equitation Challenge.
