April 13, 2011

2011 VENC - Championship Central

WACO - For the fifth straight season Baylor and Waco will host the Varsity Equestrian National Championships (VENC) at the Heart of Texas Fair and Rodeo Complex. The tenth annual championships will begin on Thursday, April 14 and continue through Saturday, April 17. The event is open and admission is free to the public.

The Bears will be the No. 3 seed in he hunter seat and take on the winner of South Carolina and Delaware State in the opening round. On the western side, they are the No. 8 seed and will face New Mexico State.

"We are very excited to be hosting the Varsity Equestrian National Championships again," head coach Ellen White said. "We have been riding very well lately and although each discipline has a tough draw, we anticipate to be at our very best this weekend."

Varsity equestrian is divided into two areas: hunter seat and western. The University of Georgia claimed the overall and hunter seat championship in 2010, while Texas A&M won the western championship.

This season's championship will mark the fourth season for individual competition. Emma Lipman of Georgia claimed the fences title and Michelle Morris of Georgia won flat. On the western side, Maggie Gratny of Texas A&M won the reining title and Caroline Gunn of Texas A&M took the horsemanship title.

Each of the two divisions has a 12-team seeded bracket similar to that of the NCAA basketball championships. Teams are seeded from one through 12 and placed accordingly into the bracket. Auburn is ranked No. 1 in the hunter seat bracket while Texas A&M is the top ranked in the western bracket for the third-straight season.

The Varsity Equestrian National Championships will begin on Thursday at 8:30 a.m. and continue through Saturday afternoon