BRYAN-COLLEGE STATION, Texas – Auburn earned the title at the SEC Championship on Saturday, defeating top-seeded Texas A&M, 13-6, for the victory. 
 
CHAMPIONSHIP – (3/30) Auburn Wins Sixth-Straight Southeastern Conference Crown, Defeats Texas A&M
In her first season at the helm of the Auburn equestrian team, head coach Jessica Braswell led the Tigers to the program’s sixth-straight Southeastern Conference title as the team topped No. 1 seed and host Texas A&M, 13-6, at the Hildebrand Equine Complex in College Station Texas.
 
“This is amazing and I’m so, so proud of this team,” Braswell said. “They were outstanding all weekend and their fight this season made them ready for one of the biggest moments. Coaches Emma Kurtz and Taylor Searles have worked so hard to get this team prepared and this team showed up.
 
“Getting to do this for coach Greg Williams in his first year as head coach emeritus was so special. It was an amazing day and we are looking forward to what else this season brings.”
 
The championship win is the team’s seventh in the Southeastern Conference (2016, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024) since the league began sponsoring the sport in 2013.
 
“It’s been such an honor to be a part of this team and be a part of a group girls that are amazing, talented riders,” senior Isabella Tesmer said. “I’m so proud of them and we put it together today. I’m excited for what’s next.”
 
“It’s such a special feeling,” fifth year Ava Stearns said. “This one might be the most special because it hasn’t been the easiest year. I’ve known this whole time that this team is special, and the talent is there. To watch it all come together at the right time means more than anything to me.”
 
Auburn took home three Most Outstanding Performer honors on the day. Sophomores Alexia Tordoff and Caroline Fredenburg were awarded in Reining and Horsemanship, respectively. Junior Mary-Grace Segars was honored for her win in Flat.
 
In addition, Fredenburg was placed on the SEC All-Championship for her efforts in Horsemanship.
 
The Auburn Jumping Seat team went 8-2 on the day, while the Western squad finished 5-4-1.
 
The Horsemanship crew dominated the weekend, going 8-1-1 over the two days with a sweep on Friday. Flat picked up a five-point sweep today vs. the Aggies.
 
“These guys have been grinding all year long and to get it together this weekend was huge,” Braswell said. “This team is so capable, and it was so special to see that hard work come to fruition.”
 
Auburn opened the day with a 7-3 lead following Flat and Reining.
 
The Tigers earned the sweep in Flat to push ahead, picking up all five points in the event. Freshman Avery Glynn led off with an 93-87 win before Stearns bested her opponent with a 92.33. Segars followed with a 94.67-89.67 win, while senior Ellie Ferrigno took her point with a 93.33. Junior Sophee Steckbeck completed the sweep with an 89.67-87.37 win.
 
“We knew we were going to have to come out of the gate swinging,” Stearns said. “We talked a lot about how we wanted to start this meet and I’m so proud of those girls. I’m especially proud of Avery (Glynn) who had to go into the ring first. I could not be happier with the way we performed.”
 
The Reining corps secured two points in the event to push Auburn to a 7-3 lead at the break. Tordoff picked up her point with a 73.33-72.5 edge over Mattie Gustin, while Tesmer bested her opponent with a 72.
 
Horsemanship finished with a 3-1-1 mark vs. the Aggies to close out the second half for Western. Fredenburg scored a 75.83 on her MOP ride to win her point, while Tordoff tied Hanna Olaussen, 75.33-all. The Aggies took the third point before senior Madison Parduhn bested Ellie Gerbrandt, 75.33-74.67. Freshman Sydney Swallom closed out her perfect weekend with a 74.17-71 win.
 
The Fences crew concluded the day with a 3-2 record. The Aggies took the first two matches before Glynn scored a 92.67 to win her point. Ferrigno earned a 91.33 to come out on top and in fitting fashion, Stearns sealed her final SEC championship with an 83.33-70.67 victory.
 
The Tigers look to close out the season with another championship as the team will head to Ocala, Florida for the 2024 NCEA Championship. The three-day meet will be held April 18-20 at the World Equestrian Center and Auburn will once again be the host team.
 
CONSOLATION – (3/30) Georgia Beats Out South Carolina in Consolation
The University of Georgia equestrian team defeated South Carolina, 12-7, to finish third at the 2023 SEC Championship Saturday at the Hildebrand Equine Complex.
 
Senior Nora Andrews was named to the All-Championship team in Flat after winning both of her rides during the championship. She scored an 87 on Friday against Auburn in the semifinal and a 89.33 today against South Carolina. 
 
Two Bulldogs won Most Outstanding Performer honors for their rides in the consolation round. Junior Catalina Peralta was awarded in Fences after scoring a 87.67 and beating her opponent by four points.  Sophomore Raegan Shepherd was recognized in Reining with a score of 72.  
 
“It’s always good to be able to come back and compete again,” Georgia head coach Meghan Boenig said. “It was great to see the way they handle adversity.  This group is determined to do well and be successful. We had huge scores with tough, tight riding.  Having said that, we have work to do when we go home. We are not leaving here like we want so we will go back, get to work, and make sure days like today repeat.”
 
New this year at the SEC Championship, total scores for each rider are comprised of the average of the scores from three judges.  
 
Competition started in Flat with the Bulldogs and Gamecocks splitting points, winning two each.  After the first two rides went to South Carolina, senior Jordan Toering pushed her point with a score of 91.33. Senior Nora Andrews put Georgia on the board, beating her counterpart, 89.33- 82.  Junior Catalina Peralta followed with a score of 91.33, defeating South Carolina’s Sarah Rabb but less than a point.  
 
In the Western ring, Georgia outscored South Carolina 3-2 in Reining. Junior Jax Bound started with a 69.17- 66.83 win over South Carolina’s Chloe VanStone.  The next point went to the Gamecocks before Georgia won the following two rides with tight margins.  Sophomore Shelby Lynch topped her opponent, 68.5-68.17 and Shepherd beat Chloe Stephenson 72-71.83.  South Carolina won the last Reining point by another slim margin.  
 
Georgia held a one-point lead at the halfway mark of the meet.  
 
Georgia’s fences squad laid down big rides, sweeping all five points with scores of 83 and above.  The event kicked off with a 87.87-83.67 win from Peralta. Senior Emma Reichow earned a 85.33 while senior Jennifer Staniloff earned a 84 in her win. Tessa Brown bested her opponent, 83-68, and freshman Tessa Downey capped the event with a 83.33-81 win. 
 
Finishing competition in Horsemanship, South Carolina edged Georgia 3-2.  Senior Leah Anderson took the first point of the event with a 73.5. After a point went to the Gamecocks, junior Jillian Stopperich picked up a tally for the Bulldogs with a score of 68.5.
 
SEMIFINAL 2 – (3/29) Texas A&M Punches Ticket to Championship, Bests South Carolina 
The No. 1 seed Texas A&M equestrian team punched its ticket to the SEC Championship final after defeating No. 4 seed South Carolina (7-7), 14-6, in semifinal action Friday afternoon at the Hildebrand Equine Complex. 
 
The Aggies (9-3) kicked off the meet winning Reining 3-2 with Gracie Casebolt (68.67), Keesa Luers (69.83) and Lauren Hanson (71.17) earning points. The Maroon & White have now won five of their last six in the event and improved to 5-3-3 on the year. 
 
Maggie Nealon led the way for Texas A&M in Flat registering her second Most Outstanding Performer honor of the season and moving her record to an impressive 7-2-3. Her score of 89.33 marked the highest by a Flat rider in program history at the SEC Championship. Rylee Shufelt (85.33) and Devon Thomas (86) also captured points for the Aggies as they claimed the event, 3-2. 
 
At the break the Maroon & White led the Gamecocks 6-4.
 
Texas A&M jumped out the gate to start the second half of the meet, winning Fences 4-1. Freshman Ali Treuting picked up her first career MOP with a score of 90. Brooke Brombach also delivered an outstanding performance, setting an SEC Championship program record with a score 90.33. Kate Egan and Thomas rounded out the scoring for the Aggies in the event. 
 
The Maroon & White closed the semifinal with a 4-1 victory in Horsemanship. Cori Cansdale added her second MOP this year, earning a 76.33 for her ride. Ellie Gerbrandt (75.83), Ella Petak (72.50) and Hanna Olaussen (70.67) followed with the final points of the day. 
 
POSTGAME QUOTES
Head Coach Tana McKay
 
On Impacts of Hosting the SEC Championship
“It’s a big day when we are hosting and there is a lot of stuff going on behind the scenes that a lot of people don’t see that our team handled extremely well, and I think that helped us be successful. At the end of the day, they ride neutral horses and it is a really good, fair competition.”
 
On Overcoming Adversity
“They handled the adversity issues really well today. We had to do a couple of re-rides and so we just handled that. We go in with a plan and try to execute and then you kind of have to regroup and get a new horse. It all happens really quick, and they did a great job of handling that today.”
 
SEMIFINAL 1 – (3/29) Auburn Takes Over Georgia to Advance
The No. 3 seed Auburn equestrian team kicked off the 2024 postseason with a big win Friday afternoon, earning a 12-7 victory over No. 2 seed Georgia on the first day of the SEC Championship.
 
The five-time defending SEC champion Tigers (8-5) will face No. 1 seed and host Texas A&M for the conference title Saturday at 2 p.m. CT at the Hildebrand Equine Complex in College Station, Texas. The Aggies topped No. 4 seed South Carolina, 14-6, later in the day.
 
“I’m really proud of the fight the team showed today,” head coach Jessica Braswell said. “We knew it would be a close meet and that we really needed to be on top of our game against Georgia. And now we get to compete for a championship tomorrow. We talked about using the lessons learned throughout the year to be ready for this moment and we are so excited to compete for another trophy.”
 
The Tigers were led by big performances in Western as Horsemanship and Reining combined for an 8-2 mark, including a sweep in Horsemanship.
 
“The Horsemanship riders really came through and shifted momentum for us,” Braswell said. “We closed out with big rides in Fences to finish the meet strong and I’m really proud of what this team accomplished today.”
 
Auburn swept the Most Outstanding Performer honors – senior Isabella Tesmer (Reining), fifth year Ava Stearns (Flat), junior Sophee Steckbeck (Fences) and sophomore Alexia Tordoff (Horsemanship).
 
The two teams rode to a 5-5 tie after Flat and Reining opened the day.
 
Reining put together a 3-2 record vs. the Bulldogs, starting with a 68-66.67 win from Tordoff. Tesmer followed with a 71.83-71 edge to improve to 12-1-0 on the year in the event, while sophomore Caroline Buchanan scored 70.5 points in her win over Jax Bound.
 
The Tigers earned big wins in Flat from their most experienced riders in Stearns and senior Ellie Ferrigno. Stearns picked up her ninth win of the season in the event with a huge 89.67-85.33 victory over Catalina Peralta. Ferrigno bested her opponent, 85.33-83, for the squad.
 
Horsemanship kicked off the sweep with a 75.33-60.33 win from freshman Sydney Swallom. Freshman Alexis Potts earned a 72.67 to top Grace Himes, while Tordoff earned a 73.17 in her win. Sophomore Caroline Fredenburg bested Jordan Davis, 73.83-70.5, and senior Madison Parduhn capped the event with a 73-72.33 edge over Leah Anderson.
 
Fences closed out the day with a 2-2-1 mark vs. the Bulldogs. Junior Mary-Grace Segars earned a big score with an 89.67 to defeat Peralta’s 89.33. Ferrigno and Emma Reichow tied their match up as each earned a 90.33. Steckbeck finished things off with a 93-81.67 win, improving to 12-1-0 overall in the event this season.
 
SEC All-Championship Team
Flat – Nora Andrews, Georgia
Fences – Ali Treuting, Texas A&M
Horsemanship – Caroline Fredenburg, Auburn
Reining – Keesa Luers, Texas A&M
 
SEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year – Caitlin Lyons, Georgia
 
SEC Championship MOPs
Fences – Ali Trueting, Texas A&M
Flat – Mary-Grace Segars, Auburn
Horsemanship – Caroline Fredenburg, Auburn
Reining – Alexia Tordoff, Auburn
 
About the NCEA
A non-profit corporation, the NCEA is a governing body to advance the sport of equestrian. The NCEA is responsible for the development and administration of equestrian rules and guidelines. Equestrian is subject to all NCAA policies and procedures in the same manner as other sports. In 1998, Equestrian was identified and adopted by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Committee on Women's Athletics (CWA) as an emerging sport for women at the Division I and II levels. 
 
NCEA competitions are in a head-to-head format, and schools may choose to compete as a single or dual discipline team (Jumping Seat and Western). Each discipline has two events: in Jumping Seat, Fences and Flat, and in Western, Horsemanship and Reining. Teams can have five riders per event, with horses assigned by random draw at the start of the competition. Riders from opposing teams compete on the same horse, and whichever rider receives the higher score earns one point for her team. The level of difficulty is demonstrated by the accuracy of the pattern and how the competitor uses the horse to the best of her ability.
 
To stay up to date all year long on all things NCEA Equestrian, follow the organization on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram: @NCEA_Equestrian and @ncea_eq.