Feb. 28, 2010
AUBURN - The No. 2 Auburn equestrian team defeated No. 7 Baylor 14-4 Saturday at the Auburn Equestrian Center. The Tigers improved to 10-2 while the Bears fell to 8-5.
"We had just an unbelievable run on the Hunt Seat side today," said Auburn head coach Greg Williams. "They almost swept every point. Our Western squad picked up the win. It was a little more hard-fought, but I think the Hunt Seat riders kind of hit a new level today.
"We really try to peak in April, and we're riding so well, but we've got more to offer. We've got to keep working on the mechanics and we can still apply more pressure, yet again, in April. They were riding really, really well right after Christmas break, and came back pushing hard, riding hard. If they'll do that when we ask it again in the latter part of March then we'll be in contention to win the SEC and we will be one of the contenders for the National Championship."
The Tigers won each of the four events on the day, winning Hunt Seat Equitation on the Flat 4-1, Hunt Seat Equitation over Fences 5-0, Western Horsemanship 2-1 and Western Reigning 5-3.
In Hunt Seat Equitation on the Flat, the Tigers were led by MVP Lindsey Portela. Portela defeated Baylor's Margaret Beaudoin 58-54. Other Tiger winners included Anna Becker over Kim Woodsum 56-48, Katie Breedlove over Melanie Appel 59-54 and Chelsea Anheuser over Mary Smitson 66-39. Baylor's Heather Healy earned the point for the Bears defeating Auburn's Dottie Grubb 54-47.
In Hunt Seat Equitation over Fences, the Tigers took all five points as Anna Schierholz defeated Heather Healy 76-75, Ali Loprete defeated Lisa Goldman 86-85, Maggie McAlary defeated Taylor Brown 87-82, MVP Grace Socha defeated Kendra Vicary 89-83 and Dottie Grubb defeated Kara Fergusson 84-73.
In Western Horsemanship, the Tigers took two of the total three points, as two head-to-head matchups resulted in ties. For Auburn, Indy Roper defeated Allison Orosz 72-70.5 and Bailey Dymond defeated MVP Lindsay Douglas 72.5-72. For Baylor, Ashley Garza defeated Lauren Rooney 73-71.5. Auburn's Jessica Jones and Baylor's Lindsey Tomko tied at 71.5, and Auburn's Kylie Miller and Baylor's Meghan Murphy tied at 71.5.
In Western Reigning, Auburn defeated Baylor again 3-2. Auburn winners included Indy Roper over Amber Mooney 69-66.5, Lyndsey Jordan over Olivia Rogers 67.5-0 and Kim Pope over Lindsey Tomko 67-64.5. Baylor winners included MVP Madelyn Mooney over Kelsey George 71.5-66 and Katie Buss over Paige Monfore 68-66.
Auburn returns to action this Saturday against conference rival and first-ranked Georgia at 10 a.m. CT at the Auburn Equestrian Center.