|
No. 1 Georgia Equestrian Defeats Fresno State
ATHENS, Ga. -- The No. 1
University of Georgia equestrian team opened its 2013-2014 season with
a 16-3 win over Fresno State (0-3) on Sunday morning in Bishop, Ga.
Highlighting the competition were MOP honors by Megan Southam in
Equitation Over Fences, Rachel Kolb in Horsemanship, Leylan Gleeson in
Equitation on the Flat, and McKenzie Lantz in Reining.
“After
such a great football game yesterday, everything around here is
electric,” said head coach Meghan Boenig. “I think the riders did a
fabulous job today. We saw so many freshmen being very successful. I’m
excited about what they have to offer in the future of this program. We
lost some seniors so we knew there was going to be some big wholes to
fill, but had a lot of riders step up today.”
Georgia jumped to
an early lead sweeping Fresno State 5-0 in Equitation Over Fences.
Southam began the competition with her MOP-earning ride of 87-30. Kylee
Arbuckle was up next with an 85-80 victory, and Abby O’Mara quickly
followed with a score 84-81. Sarah Milliren also put up 84 points,
defeated her opponent’s score of 79. Olivia Dorey securing the sweep in
the event for Georgia with her 83-78.
In Horsemanship, the
Bulldogs quickly went up 2-0 with Rachel Kolb’s 75.5-72.5 victory and
Sara Parr’s winning score of 72.5-68. In a close competition, Anna
Sasser edged out her opponent 74.5-74. Fresno State’s Rio Haack secured
the first point for FSU with a 67.5-66 score over Georgia’s Paige
Stawicki. Heather Schmidt closed the event for Georgia in her winning
ride of 70-66, giving the Bulldogs a 4-1 victory over FSU in
Horsemanship.
Up 9-1 at the halfway mark, Georgia took the first
point in Equitation on the Flat with a 76-70 win by Liza Finsness. FSU
had the winning ride in the second spot as Dayle Fischer outscored
Georgia’s Arbuckle 77-75. The Bulldogs turned it around with victories
in the final three rides. With her MOP-earning ride, Gleeson turned in
a score of 82-65 before Southam narrowly defeated her opponent 66-65.
Milliren wrapped up Equitation on the Flat with her 76-73 win, giving
Georgia its final point and a 4-1 score in the event.
Lindsey
Cheek tied with Fresno State’s Taylor Brown 72.5-72.5 to start off
Reining. Charley Thiel’s 70.5-66 win took the first point for Georgia,
but FSU responded as Kirsten McKillop put up a 69.5 over Lauren
Garmon’s 61 for Georgia. The Bulldogs secured the final two points with
Lauren Tieche’s winning score of 72.5 and McKenzie Lantz’s MOP ride of
74-72. Georgia closed out the competition by taking Reining 3-1.
|
