April 16, 2014

Championship Bracket | NCEA Championship Central

Updated Statistics | Friday – Live Scoring

WACO, Texas – No. 1 ranked South Carolina arrived in Texas on Tuesday and will begin action at the 2014 NCEA National Championship on Friday, April 18 at the Extraco Events Center. This is the eighth straight year that the City of Waco and Baylor University will host the equestrian national championship.

SETTING THE STAGE
– South Carolina is currently 13-2 this season, including a 4-2 record in SEC action.
– The Gamecocks earned the No. 1 seed at this year’s NCEA National Championship.
– Carolina earned a first round bye, and will not compete at all on the first day (April 17).
– This is the first year that the NCEA will determine a national champion based on a dual meet format. In previous years, teams were divided in to hunt seat and western brackets, and points were awarded based on where each team placed in the respective brackets. The dual meet format is the standard competition that teams compete under during the regular season and conference championships.

CHAMPIONSHIP SEEDINGS
1. South Carolina
2. Oklahoma State
3. Georgia
4. Auburn
5. Kansas State
6. Baylor
7. New Mexico State
8. Fresno State
9. TCU
10. SMU
11. UT-Martin
12. Texas A&M

FIRST DAY MATCH-UPS (Thurs., April 17)
(5) Kansas State vs. (12) Texas A&M
(6) Baylor vs. (11) UT-Martin
(7) New Mexico State vs. (10) SMU
(8) Fresno State vs. (9) TCU

HISTORY AT NATIONALS
– In 2010, Kimberly McCormack was named the Hunt Seat MVP at nationals, the highest individual award given by the judges.
– The Gamecocks have won two overall national championships (2005, 2007).
– South Carolina has won three Hunter Seat national championships (2005, 2006, 2007).
– In 2006, the Gamecocks finished as the Co-Reserve Champions (second place) along with Oklahoma State.
– In 2005, Kristen Terebesi won individual championships in both the Equitation on the Flat and Equitation Over Fences brackets.

NEAR SWEEP
The Gamecocks won three SEC Rider of the Year awards this year, just missing the sweep by one event (reining). South Carolina junior Katherine Schmidt was named SEC Rider of the Year in equitation over fences and SEC Co-Rider of the Year in equitation on the flat, her first career SEC Rider of the Year honors. Senior Johnna Letchworth won her second straight SEC Rider of the Year award in horsemanship.

COACH ‘EM UP
For the second straight season, South Carolina head coach Boo Major was voted SEC Coach of the Year by her coaching peers in the league. Major guided the Gamecocks to their best regular season record in team history, and is the first University of South Carolina coach (in any sport) to win back-to-back SEC titles.

HIGH MARKS
South Carolina placed a team-record 21 riders on this year’s NCEA Academic Honor Roll, seven of which were also named to the NCEA Academic First Team. Five more riders were named to the NCEA Academic Second Team, and one Gamecock received a spot on the NCEA Academic Honorable Mention list.

ALL-SEC TEAM
The University of South Carolina placed seven riders on the 2014 All-SEC Equestrian Team, it was announced last week. In all, the seven combined to earn eight All-SEC Team selections, highlighted by Gamecock junior Katherine Schmidt being named to the All-SEC Team in both equitation over fences and equitation on the flat.

– Layla Choate, South Carolina (Reining)
– Amber Henter, South Carolina (Equitation Over Fences)
– Johnna Letchworth, South Carolina (Horsemanship)
– Cody McMillion, South Carolina (Reining)
– Adele Norton, South Carolina (Equitation On The Flat)
– Katherine Schmidt, South Carolina (Equitation Over Fences, Equitation On The Flat)
– Samantha Smith, South Carolina (Equitation On The Flat)

STREAKING
South Carolina is currently on a nine-meet winning streak. Six of those nine victories have come against SEC opponents, while the other three have come against South Dakota State, New Mexico State, and Tennessee-Martin.

DID YOU KNOW
April 17 will mark 404 days since the Gamecocks have lost a non-conference dual meet. Carolina has won its last seven non-conference meets, all of which have come this season. The Gamecocks’ last lost to a non-conference opponent on March 9, 2013 at Oklahoma State, falling to the Cowgirls in a tiebreaker, 1,535.5-1,344.