Addie Cromer Takes M.O.P. Honors in SEC Consolation Meet
BISHOP, Ga. – South Carolina senior Addie Cromer earned her first Most Outstanding Player honor of the season as the No. 8 Gamecocks were locked in a battle with No. 6 Texas A&M, eventually falling to the Aggies 11-9 on Saturday at the University of Georgia Equestrian Complex.
“Our women rode well today,” head coach Boo Major said after the meet. “We had a few mistakes that probably cost us the win, but we can’t dwell on that. We played Auburn and TAMU hard on both days and feel like it was one of our more complete weekends of competition.”
Junior Trinity Hammerschmidt started things off properly for the Gamecocks, getting her sixth flat win of the season with a 231-point ride on Chad. Texas A&M took the next two point, and a re-ride was requested in the third matchup before senior Louisa Brackett snagged her point with a 234 on Valducchy to make 2-1. Junior Caroline Bald notched the team’s highest score of the morning, a 236, but fell in her matchup as the Aggies evened things up at 2-2. In the re-ride senior Billi Brandner tallied a 215 to win her point and give the Gamecocks a 3-2 event win.
Reining saw the teams trade points with Texas A&M winning the first point, followed by senior Addie Cromer winning her matchup with a 207.5-point ride on Buddy, securing her M.O.P. award. The Aggies responded by taking the third point, but senior McKenzie Duncan improved to 2-0-0 on the weekend, winning her point with a 208-point ride on Phoebe. Texas A&M took the final reining point to tie things at 5-5 at halftime.
The battled raged on through the horsemanship event where junior Sloane Vogt opened things up with a 207-point ride on Armand to win her point, just to see Texas A&M take the next two points. Senior Taylor Kellam tied things up once again with her 218.5-point ride on Peppy, but the Aggies closed the event by taking the final point and carried an 8-7 lead into the final event of the day.
Things went down to the wire as the over fences action kicked off with senior Louisa Brackett taking the first point with her 253-point ride on Campo to tie things up at 8-8. The Gamecocks continued fighting as Texas A&M took the next two points to make it 10-8, knowing that a win in the last two matchups would force the tiebreaker to use the raw score, an advantage Carolina held. Sophomore Madeline Schaefer tallied the team’s highest over fences score of the weekend, a 261 on Herbie, but her Texas A&M opponent rang up a score of 262 to take the point and end Carolina’s rally. Junior Trinity Hammerschmidt won the last matchup of the meet to make the final 11-9.
The Gamecocks now await the release of the NCEA Championship bracket and their seeding in the tournament.
