WACO, Texas – The National Collegiate Equestrian Association (NCEA) has announced the 2026 Distinguished Alumni awards, released Monday.
 
The nominees for the award were evaluated based on their on their distinctive post-graduate success as well as performance in academics, athletics and service activities while in college.
 
The 2026 class, as always, includes nine categories and honorees. For Business, Jada Taylor of TCU was selected. Sam Howell of Baylor was chosen for the Community Engagement category. Grace Sanders of Auburn was chosen for the Education distinction. For the Equine Industry distinctions, Anna Becker Destro of Auburn was chosen for the coaching category, Dr. Meghan Murphy of Baylor was chosen for the medical category, and Michelle Morris Handler of Georgia was chosen for the professional rider category. Auburn's Dr. Allie Moore was chosen for the Health Sciences category. Mykaela Waterfield of UT Martin is recognized for the Media & Communication category. For the Young Alumni distinction, TCU’s Madyson Buchanan was chosen.

Below are short descriptions of each of our honorees. Be on the lookout for Q&A's with our recipients as well as more detailed biographies on each of them. The NCEA is proud of all this newest class of NCEA Distinguished Alumni has accomplished and applauds their prowess. The group will be formally congratulated at the Distinguished Alumni ceremony at the 2026 NCEA National Championship in Ocala, Florida in April.
 
Jada Taylor graduated from TCU in 2019 and began her career with a Influencer Marketing Coordinator position at Outdoor Voices, was promoted thrice and left the company as the Senior Brand Manager. She started her own marketing consultancy group in 2022, Jada Taylor LLC, and serves clients across wellness, consumer packaged goods and apparel brands. She continues her consultancy while she also serves Tandy as the Senior Marketing Manager. She is charged with the brand voice, visual identity and content direction for the health/exercise snack company.

Sam Howell graduated from Baylor in 2019 with Summa Cum Laude honors. Since graduating, she has held several positions in the national security field, including stints at the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START), the U.S. House of Representatives, the U.S. Senate, and the U.S. Department of Defense. She is currently an associate fellow with the Technology and National Security Program at the Center for a New American Security (CNAS), an independent, bipartisan think tank. 

After graduating from Auburn in 2012, Grace Sanders has been with the Southeastern Conference since 2016. She has had four promotions since then, and is currently the Director of Officiating Administration, as well as serving the conference as the Sport Administrator for Equestrian.

Auburn's Anna Becker graduated Cum Laude in 2013 and has served as a coach within the NCEA at both Kansas State and currently at Georgia, where she has been since 2018. She is the Associate Head Coach for the Bulldogs, coaching the Jumping Seat squad to a national title in 2025 and named the NCEA Jumping Seat Assistant Coach of the Year. 

Baylor's Dr. Meghan Murphy graduated in 2012 and went on to earn her Doctor of Veterinary Medicine in 2020 at the Michigan State University College of Veterinary Medicine. She is currently an associate veterinarian at the Brazos Valley Equine Hospitals in Navasota, Texas, where she serves in a role that combines advanced sports medicine and the precision, judgment and leadership required to care for elite equine athletes. She is the Team Veterinarian for the Texas A&M equestrian program. She is pursuing certification with the International Society of Equine Locomotor Pathology (ISELP).

Michelle Morris Handler graduated from Georgia in 2012 and returned to her hometown of Los Angeles, Calif., to found The Clearing Farm, a premier hunter/jumper training program. Since 2013, her program has produced riders and horses who have earned top championship honors in Hunters, Jumpers, and Equitation at prestigious venues on the West Coast. Michelle herself has more than 40 National Hunter Derby wins and 20 top-ten finishes in International Hunter Derbies. She's earned honors such as the Best Trainer Award for Top Pony Rider at the 95th Annual Flintridge Children's Horse Show, showing her dedication to horsemanship and athlete development.

Dr. Allie Moore graduated from Auburn in 2016 with a dual degree, finishing Summa Cum Laude with degrees in Exercise Science as well as Physical Activity & Health: Fitness, Conditioning & Performance. She then went on to earn her doctorate in Physical Therapy in 2019 and is now the Rehabilitation Program Coordinator for General Medicine/General Surgery at OhioHealth Riverside Methodist Hospital. She is directly responsible for advancement of clinical practice within the rehab department. 

After graduating Cum Laude from UT Martin with a degree in Agribusiness in 2015, Mykaela Waterfield went on to earn her Master's in Education and Higher Education Leadership in 2020. She went on to serve as UTM's Admissions Communications Manager where she still is today and continues to advance. She established and oversees the first-ever internal student search process at UTM, applying predictive analytics to shape the incoming collegiate classes.

Madyson Buchanan graduated from TCU in 2023 with her degree in Journalism/Film Television & Digital Media. Since then, she began her career with an internship with Nike, then Marketing Manager of Paradigm Boats. She is now the Head of Western Recruiting and Marketing with Educated Rider, the leading collegiate equestrian recruiting and consulting group in the market. She has helped grow the brand and reach, along with assisting in the creation of the weekly podcast, WEQ Weekly. In addition, she works with US Neuro, a national, private-practice group providing neuro diagnostic services to all markets as a Growth Marketing & Business Development Associate.
 
2026 Distinguished Alumni
Business – Jada Taylor (TCU)
Community Engagement – Samantha Howell (Baylor)
Education – Grace Sanders (Auburn)
Equine Industry – Coach – Anna Becker (Auburn)
Equine Industry – Medical – Dr. Meghan Murphy (Baylor)
Equine Industry – Professional Rider – Michelle Morris Handler (Georgia)
Health Science – Dr. Allie Moore (Auburn)
Media & Communication – Mykaela Waterfield (UT Martin)
Young Alumni – Madyson Buchanan (TCU)

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.