Jan. 25, 2006

WACO, Texas - Kicking-off the spring season for Baylor's equestrian team are eight western riders who have traveled to College Station, Texas, to compete in the first Big Eight Western Show hosted by Texas A&M. Among the other schools showing are Fresno State, Georgia, New Mexico State, Oklahoma State, South Carolina, and Texas A&M. Events will begin at 8 a.m. both Friday and Saturday morning at the N.W. 'Dick' Freeman Arena.

Baylor's western riders are headed up by senior captain Brenna Burris who was the only rider from Baylor to show at the Western exhibition portion of the Big Eight English tournament held in October. Seven other Bears are traveling to compete including Kendra Kemp, Amanda Esco, Ashleigh Brown, Nicole McCoy, Stephanie Thompson, Kim Crook, and Kim Marlowe.

The show is an eight-team double-elimination tournament with each team having three riders compete in both reining and horsemanship. One rider from each school will be matched up head-to-head riding the same horse. A score will be called out for every ride. The lowest of the six scores from each team will be dropped. The remaining five scores will be totaled and the winning team will move on to the next round. Though the tournament is double-elimination, once a team loses it cannot advance back into the winner's bracket.

Baylor results will be posted at www.baylorbears.com and full tournament results can be found at www.aggieathletics.com.