April 18, 2007
WACO, Texas-TCU's run in its inaugural season came to an end Wednesday as it fell 5-3 to South Carolina in the first round of the Varsity Equestrian National Championships in Waco.
The judging for the event was a little different than what most Equestrian fans are accustomed to. Instead of getting a score judged off a base of 70, there were two judges for the event, thus pushing the norm to 140.
The Lady Frogs were tied after the horsemanship event 2-2, but fell 3-1 in the reining event. The horsemanship event between TCU and South Carolina was the most exciting match out of the four that were taking place at the time. The two teams were the only who did not have a rider score below a 141.
On a very bright note for the Frogs, Carrie von Uhlit earned the high score out of 32 riders for both the horsemanship and reining events. Kindel Huffman tied her for high horsemanship honors with a score of 146.5.
Even though the Frogs fell short of their goals for this week, head coach Gary Reynolds put things in perspective when relating this week to the season as a whole. "No one even expected us to be here," Reynolds said. "To have the high score in both the reining and horsemanship events is pretty impressive." Reynolds feels the group which has no graduating seniors, will learn from their experience and return stronger in the fall.
While TCU will not have any team meetings until August, the riders will certainly keep themselves busy, with many trips planned this summer to compete in individual shows, a common act for most collegiate riders.
Results
Reining
Rachel Sternoff (SC) 139.5 def. Jessica Bailey (TCU) 135
Allison Bradley (SC) 137 def. Chloe Baker (TCU) 130
Rebekah Roof (SC) 144 def. Kindel Huffman (TCU) 133
Carrie von Uhlit (TCU) 147 def. Lindsay Williams (SC) 145.5
Horsemanship
Rachel Sternoff (SC) 145 def. Chloe Baker (TCU) 141
Kindel Huffman (TCU) 146.5 def. Katie Grossnickle (SC) 143.5
Carrie von Uhlit (TCU) 146.5 def. Katy Biffle (SC) 144.5
Allison Bradley (SC) 143.5 def. Nicole Barnes (TCU) 141.5
