April 19, 2007
WACO, Texas - Baylor's equestrian program suffered two losses Thursday afternoon in the final action of the Varsity Equestrian National Championships Bye Round at the Heart O' Texas Fair Complex.
In Western action, the Bears couldn't rally to defeat top-seeded Texas A&M as the Aggies posted a 5-3 win over Baylor. Action started with the score tied at 2-2 after the teams split the Horsemanship points the previous evening. In Thursday morning's Reining rides, Texas A&M earned the first two points forcing Baylor to tally the final two in order to force the tiebreaker, which consists of determining a winner through raw scores instead of the point system.
Nicole McCoy's 133.5-point ride proved to be enough to outscore her Aggie competition and keep the Bears' hopes of advancing alive. But in the final ride, Amanda Graber couldn't post the 143.5 points needed to advance to the semifinals.
"Amanda [Graber] doesn't have a lot of Reining background but she's just such a great rider, an aggressive rider. After what happened in her Horsemanship ride yesterday [Graber was granted a reride after the horse she was riding, Jake, was spooked and unable to finish the pattern], it's hard to bounce back with a clean ride. But we hung with Texas A&M and that's a great accomplishment," said Western assistant coach Trista Armstrong.
Baylor's eighth-seeded Western team will ride next against fourth-seeded Auburn in the first consolation round. Action begins around 1:30 p.m. with Reining and continues at 5:30 p.m. with Horsemanship.
The sixth-seeded English Bears entered Thursday action with the daunting task of earning all four Fences points after dropped all four Flat points to third-seeded Georgia Wednesday night. Unfortunately the Bulldogs outscored the Bears in all four Fences rides and swept BU 8-0.
"I have no complaints about our riders today. We were just outscored. I wouldn't even say that we were out-ridden, just outscored. I was pleased but we were sticky in Fences this morning. That's going to happen to a young team since we competed all day yesterday then rode against a bye team today. I don't think we were as charged mentally this morning," said head coach Ellen White.
Baylor's English team will ride against second-seeded Oklahoma State in the first consolation round in BU's quest for fifth place. Consolation Equitation on the Flat action begins tentatively around 1:45 followed by Equitation over Fences.
Baylor consolation results as well as full championship scores will be available at www.baylorbears.com.
