AUBURN, Ala. – The two-time defending NCEA and SEC champion Auburn equestrian team kicks off the 2020-21 season ranked No. 1 according to the National Collegiate Equestrian Association Preseason Poll, the selection committee announced Wednesday.
The Tigers continue to hold the top spot and have been ranked No. 1 since the end of the 2017-18 season. South Carolina and Georgia are third and fourth, while Texas A&M comes in at seventh.
Auburn returns a strong senior class as well as a solid junior class that have helped the Tigers remain undefeated over two seasons. This includes Taylor St. Jacques, Taylor Searles, Deanna Green, Terri-June Granger, McKayla Langmeier and Emma Kurtz.
St. Jacques returns are the NCEA and SEC Flat Rider of the Year. Langmeier, after another stellar campaign on the Jumping Seat side, comes back as the two-time defending NCEA Fences Rider of the Year. Green earned NCEA and SEC Horsemanship Rider of the Year last season, while Granger finished the 2019-20 season as the SEC Reining Rider of the Year.
In addition, St. Jacques, Langmeier, Green, Searles, Granger, Langmeier and Kurtz are all returning All-Americans. Sophomores Olivia Tordoff (horsemanship) and Ava Stearns (jumping seat) also come back to Auburn as All-Americans.
Auburn will compete in three meets this fall as part of a shortened early season. The Tigers kick off the new campaign this Friday, Oct. 16, at No. 3 South Carolina. Auburn and the Gamecocks will go head-to-head at 9 a.m. CT in Blythewood, S.C., at One Wood Farm.