Equestrian bows out of Big 12 Tournament early

Sophomore Georgia Smith performs during the equestrian meet Saturday against OSU. Jessica Hubble | Multimedia Editor

By Molly Atchison | Print Managing Editor

The Baylor Equestrian team completed a short stint in its postseason competition schedule, losing to Texas Christian University and Oklahoma State University in an away meet in Springtown. Despite falling 12-8 to TCU and 13-7 to OSU, Baylor did manage to make its presence felt in the Big 12 awards.

In the All-Big 12 award selections, freshman hunt seat Rachael Davis collected the Big 12 Rider of the Year award for Equitation on the Flat, and sophomore western Georgia Smith won Big 12 Rider of the Year for reining. TCU won the most Big 12 postseason awards, with Baylor close behind. Baylor won a total of five All-Big 12 selections, with senior hunt seat Gabby Conte in fences, junior hunt seat Shannon Hogue in fences, Davis in flat, junior western Abbi Demel in horsemanship and Smith in reining.

The OSU Cowgirls came away with the Big 12 title and won all four Most Outstanding Player awards. TCU was close on their heels, splitting its meet and allowing Baylor to make a small comeback in the second half of the meet, although they weren’t able to win in the end.

Davis and sophomore hunt seat Grace Thiel both pulled points in the flat, and the one point in horsemanship was collected by Demel. Baylor kept moving toward, nearly sweeping reining with the help of senior western Charlotte Green, freshman western Carly Salter, Demel and Smith, who all posted scores. In the end, they were unable to pull out a meet win, despite senior hunt seat Abby Jorgensen’s point in fences.

During the OSU meet, the Bears were able to tie the first half, with senior hunt seat Brittney Mirkov, Jorgensen, sophomore hunt seat Madison Day, Green and freshman western Clara Johnson all scoring point in fences and horsemanship, but they were unable to win in the second half, losing 4-1 in flats and reining.

Baylor will now await its opponent in the NCEA Championships, which will run April 18-21 in Waco.