April 20, 2013
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WACO, Texas – No. 5 Western seed South Carolina was eliminated from the 2013 NCEA National Championships on Saturday, as the Gamecocks fell 6-1 to top-seed Oklahoma State at the Extraco Events Center.
“Our girls rode very hard today against a tough Oklahoma State team, and Coach Sanchez and his team proved why they’re the No. 1 Western team in the country,” South Carolina head coach Boo Major said. “I am disappointed in the loss, but I’m not disappointed in our effort because I thought did the best we could against them today and it just wasn’t good enough.”
Oklahoma State took control of Saturday’s meet early, as the Cowgirls swept the Gamecocks in Reining, 4-0.
In Horsemanship, the Gamecocks were unable to make a comeback, as junior Katie Kopf was the only Gamecock to win her point. After junior Johnna Letchworth rode Oklahoma State’s Lindsey McMullen to a 149-149 tie, the Cowgirls went on to win back-to-back points to take a 6-0 lead. Kopf prevented the shutout by earning a 143-135.5 win over the Cowgirls’ Katy Krshka.
“I was very happy to see Katie win her point,” Major said. “She had a couple of loses earlier in the weekend, but I thought she did a very good job on a difficult horse. I thought our Horsemanship group rode very well today, and it just wasn’t good enough, but we certainly battled hard and I was proud to see that.”
