'We truly are a family': Auburn equestrian celebrates perfect season

'We truly are a family': Auburn equestrian celebrates perfect season'We truly are a family': Auburn equestrian celebrates perfect season
Wade Rackley/Auburn Athletics

AUBURN, Ala. – It takes a lot to make Ashton Alexander shed tears. But it's not every day you deliver the ride that secures the national championship for your team.

"I'm not a very emotional person, and I was bawling," said Alexander Tuesday at Toomer's Corner, three days after her Equitation over Fences victory clinched Auburn's 8-7 victory over Georgia for the Tigers' sixth national title.

"Once the scores came in and I realized I had the point, tears just came to my eyes, especially to have all the girls jumping around me," she said. "I was just so excited to do it for them."

Win one for the Gipper? More like, Chippy wins one for the Tigers.

"My nickname is 'Chippy,' Ashton said. "They all screamed 'Chippy' for me. Everyone was there jumping, tears were just flowing. When I went up and saw my mom and how excited she was, it was a good end to everything."

Moments before Ashton's ride, she learned the championship would be won or lost based on her score, a revelation that left her "terrified."

"It took me a minute," she said. "I walked to the corner of the ring. It was very dark. I sat there for a moment and I just kind of calmed myself.

"I had to think about the reason why I was here, the team. My abilities of riding that I know what I can do, also not to be selfish. I had to put the 39 other girls before me and to know that all the work they've put in, not only me but the team, in being there for me whenever I needed them. It was for them, not just for me."

Alexander won 255-242. Two days later, Ashton and her fellow seniors celebrated by rolling Toomer's for the third time in their four years on the Plains.

"It's incredible to be able to do this for the third year," Alexander said. "It just show me how many more people are buying into our program. To know how much work Coach Williams puts into this team, this is where you see it and this is where it pays off.

"We have some of the top girls and coaches, but it's not even that. Other teams have the same lineup and the same coaches, it's how together we are. We truly are a family. That's one thing that makes us better than anybody else is how close we are."

Noting the large turnout, senior Hayley Iannotti contrasted the support Auburn's equestrian program receives compared to some of its rivals.

"When we go to other schools, they don't really have any fans that come to their meets," she said. "People don't have anywhere to sit at ours because there are so many people there. It's just incredible the amount of support we have from the Auburn family."

With an 18-0 record, Auburn completed the first perfect season in equestrian history, an accomplishment coach Greg Williams reflected on after rolling the trees at Toomer's Corner.

"Perfection's not that scoreboard," Williams said. "The dash and the zero is not perfection. It's what you do day in and day out in pursuit of it, that's really what makes a perfect team. I will always have that more entrenched in me from this year."
 



 



 



 



Jeff Shearer is a Senior Writer at AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on Twitter: @jeff_shearer