By AJ Werner | Reporter
Baylor Equestrian capped off its preseason schedule Sunday afternoon with a near-perfect overall performance in a scrimmage against Tarleton State, winning 19-1.
The Bears gave fans at Willis Family Equestrian Center a display of dominance, starting the scrimmage with a score of 5-0 in Western Reining and a 4-1 in Jumping Seat Flat.
Fifth-year senior Madison Mitchell scored 82 in Flat and junior Kalena Reynolds scored 72.5 in Reining, allowing them to earn MOP honors for their strong performances. Despite pre-meet anxiety, Mitchell said she still felt secure in her and the team’s ability to come out strong against Tarleton State.
“I know it was just a scrimmage, but we really treated it like it was a real meet,” Mitchell said. “I think we kind of needed to use this to get those nerves out, but I was feeling confident in myself and our team that we could get done what we needed to.”
Mitchell also gave credit to Teddy, the horse she rode in the event, for the high score they captured together.
“I’ve gotten some big scores on him, so I really like him,” Mitchell said. “He’s a good boy; today he was really good.”
Baylor swept both Jumping Seat Fences and Western Horsemanship, both of which took place in the afternoon session. Senior Annie Vorhies, who scored 82 in Fences, and Nadalee Vasquez, who scored 71.5 in Horsemanship, both won MOP awards.
Along with Vorhies’ score of 82, the Bears added an an 81 from junior Lauren Reid, 78s from Lauren Jorgensen and Emma Covarrubias and a 70 from Mitchell, making it Baylor’s best event of the match. Head coach Casie Maxwell loved the Fences event results but emphasized needing the other events to be just as strong going forward.
“It takes three events to win a meet, not just two of them,” Maxwell said. “Fences can’t be on their A-game every single meet so all the other events need to be just as strong and deep as they are.”
The Bears won’t take their preseason experience for granted as it gave the newer and inexperienced members of the team some valuable time in the ring. Maxwell thinks that the added tension of live-action play from preseason will help in the long run for the team.
“We’ve been able to see a lot of our younger athletes, both freshmen [and] sophomores, really get out there and have some pressure put on them so I think that’s good,” Maxwell said. “I think that’s going to help us kind of develop our roster over the next couple weeks.”
When asked about expectations for this upcoming season, Mitchell kept it short and sweet.
“Just keep putting points on the board,” Mitchell said.
The Bears will head up to Fort Worth to face TCU for their season opener at 10 a.m. on Oct. 10 at Bear Creek Farms.
