Gamecocks Prepped for NCEA Championship
WACO, Texas – The South Carolina equestrian team is set to compete at the 2019 NCEA Championships hosted by Baylor from Wednesday through Saturday at the Extraco Events Center in Waco, Texas.
The NCEA Championships consists of not only a team tournament, but also a chance at a title in each of the four events.
“We’re excited to be here,” head coach Boo Major said. “I think our girls are very well prepared. We are very thankful for all the folks that are here – the girls who are riding, as well as the girls who are contributing to our success for the week.
“We have three event competitions against Fresno State that just happened to fall that way and one other one against TCU,” Major said. “I’m sure it will be a very difficult competition between all four, but we’re looking forward to it. I think we have a great opportunity to win all four meets, but we have to be firing on all cylinders. That’s going to be our goal (Wednesday), is just get through the day with four wins and move on to the team competition on Thursday.”
Kicking things off in Waco, the first rounds of the event championships take place on Wednesday. Up first, the Gamecocks take the arena for Equitation Over Fences and Reining at 9:35 a.m. ET.
In fences, South Carolina faces off against Fresno State. Last time out against the Bulldogs, Carolina won the event, 4-1.
Seeing TCU in Reining, the Gamecocks look to take a victory over the Horned Frogs after tying, 2-2, with them in Feb.
Next up, South Carolina takes on Fresno State again, in Horsemanship at 3:15 p.m. ET. In their Nov., meet, the Gamecocks and Bulldogs tied in the event, 2-2, having one of the rides tie with the same score.
Closing out the first day of events, Carolina and Fresno State go head-to-head one final time at 5:25 p.m. ET in Equitation on the Flat. Earlier in the season, South Carolina topped the Bulldogs, 3-2.
In the first round of the team championship, the No. 7 Gamecocks see familiar SEC foe, No. 2-seeded Texas A&M at 9:35 a.m. ET. This season, the Aggies took both of the meets against Carolina, 9-8, and then 13-6. Overall, Texas A&M leads the series between the two programs, 14-10.
Continue to check back with gamecocksonline.com for more updates or follow the team on social media (@GamecockEQ).
