By Kamri Alexander | Reporter
No. 8 Baylor equestrian (1-0) defeated No. 10 University of Tennessee at Martin 13-6 in UT Martin’s home opener Friday. The Bears swept all four individual events, making it the fifth time since the 2019-2020 season that Baylor has claimed all four individual events in a competition.
Baylor was able to hold UT Martin (0-1) scoreless in Horsemanship, winning the event 4-0. Western juniors Elsie Naruszewicz and Gabrielle Marty achieved scores of 75 and 76, respectively, to score two points for Baylor. Western senior Marley Mainwaring and western freshman Nadalee Vasquez were also able to put points up for Baylor due to their opponents’ rides going under review. Western senior Ellen Schrotenboer was able to leave UT Martin pointless in the discipline as she tied her opponents score.
The Bears were led by jumping seat senior Caroline Fuller in Fences with her event-leading score of 84 earning a point for Baylor. Jumping seat junior Savannah Hemby and jumping seat sophomore Madison Mitchell both scored 80, topping their opponents to help lead the Bears to a 3-2 win in the event.
Coming out of halftime with a 7-2 lead, Baylor competed in Flat and Reining. The Bears and Skyhawks went back and forth in scoring in both events, but Baylor was able to come out on top 3-2 in both. Jumping seat junior Maddie Vorhies, Hemby and Fuller scored for the Bears in Flat, while western sophomore Shelby Clausen and western juniors Madeline Bomba and Jenna Meimerstorf earned points in Reigning.
Fuller (Fences) and Naruszewicz (Horsemanship) were both named Most Outstanding Performers at the competition. Head coach Casie Maxwell was pleased with her team’s performance.
“Today was a really good day for our team and a great start to the season. We’re so grateful to be back out on the road playing again,” Maxwell said. “We had some really strong rides and rode very confident as a whole. We’ve got some small things to clean up and are looking forward to focusing on that over these next two weeks as we prepare for [Oklahoma State University].”
Baylor’s next meet is their home opener against No. 4 Oklahoma State University at 1 p.m. on Oct. 8 at the Willis Family Equestrian Center.
