April 16, 2010
Waco, Texas - The No. 2-seed Auburn hunter seat team defeated No. 10-seed Kansas State 7-1 and No. 3-seed South Carolina 6-2 Friday to advance to Saturday's championship meet against No. 1-seed Georgia.
Against South Carolina, Auburn took all four points in equitation on the flat. Chelsea Anheuser defeated Megan Massaro 175-172, Katie Breedlove defeated Carly Babcock 152-149, Maggie McAlary defeated Colvin Hedgepeth 183-156 and Ali Loprete defeated Alex Haskell 176-165. In equitation over fences, Auburn winners included Anna Schierholz over Nicole Bourgeois 162-152 and Maggie McAlary over Alex Arute 164-160. Grace Socha fell to Megan Massaro 174-160 and Kimberly McCormack defeated Dottie Grubb 173-131.
The No. 2-seed western team was eliminated after falling 4-3 to No. 10-seed South Carolina and then 6-2 to No. 3-seed Oklahoma State.
Against Oklahoma State, the Tigers were only able to claim one point each in reining and horsemanship. In reining, Lyndsey Jordan defeated Caroline Daniels 135.5-129. OSU winners included Leah Kuehn over Kim Pope 135-133, Rachell Shobe over Jillian Fuller 137-131.5 and Christy McElreath over Paige Monfore 138.5-136.5. In horsemanship, Indy Roper defeated Suzanne Randolph 140-138. OSU winners included Nichole Chirico over Kristin Hansen 144-141, Courtney Whitacre over Jessica Jones 139.5-137 and Marissa Dalton over Bailey Dymond 134.5-132.
In individual competition, No. 1-seed Maggie McAlary advanced in hunt seat equitation over fences after defeating Texas A&M's No. 8-seed Maggie Earle 80-60. McAlary will face Georgia's No. 4-seed Emma Lipman in the quarterfinal round Saturday.