Auburn Equestrian Focuses on National Championship Tournament
With their fifth-straight SEC trophy on the shelf, Auburn Equestrian turns their sights towards the NCEA National Championship tournament starting this Thursday.
Another season of impressive wins and dominant performances has Auburn poised as one of the favorites to win it all.
The Tigers have been in this position the previous two years but saw uncharacteristically flat performances in each of those tournaments produce shocking first-round exits.
SEC Coach of the Year, Greg Williams, acknowledged the Tigers’ recent history of upset defeats in the previous week’s Tiger Talk, “We had probably our worst case of that last year at the national championship in the opening round.”
This year’s team is hoping to continue their regular season and SEC title success into the national championship weekend.
Tournament action kicks off Thursday, April 13, with Auburn’s quarterfinal meet scheduled for 2:30 pm Eastern. The single-elimination tournament will see a pair of semifinals on Friday, followed by Saturday’s national championship final.
How College Equestrian Works
Before last year’s SEC Tournament, I wrote a pretty comprehensive guide to the sport, and Auburn’s place in it (the top). Most of it still applies and you can check that out for more details on the sport and the competition format.
Auburn’s Quarterfinal vs South Carolina
The Tigers will face a familiar foe in the opening round of the tournament. Auburn and South Carolina have met three times this season, with Auburn winning convincingly in each contest.
The stats suggest Thursday’s meet will feature more of the same. Each of the Tigers’ event squads are top-3 nationally, while the Gamecocks rank 4th nationally in the Flat, and not nearly as high in the other events.
Looking at how these two teams compare shows just how impressive a lineup Auburn is taking to Ocala this year.
Fences
In Equitation Over Fences, Auburn boasts the nation’s top starting lineup. Led by All-Americans Ellie Ferrigno, Ava Stearns (both 1st team), and Sophee Steckbeck (2nd team), the Tigers average an incredible 3.8 points out of a possible 5 in the event.
Conversely, the Gamecocks average 2.5 Fences points behind All-American Honorable Mention Jordan Allen.
Flat
Equitation On the Flat figures to be the most competitive event of the meet. Auburn’s Emma Kurtz and Mary-Grace Segars are both All-American Honorable Mention, and with their teammates, have averaged 3.2 Flat points this season.
South Carolina’s Trinity Hammerschmidt is a Second Team All-American, and along with her teammates, has averaged just under 3.2 Flat points this season.
Horsemanship
In Horsemanship, Auburn starts a pair of All-Americans in Maddie Spak (1st Team) and Alexia Tordoff (HM). The Tigers have averaged just under 3.3 Horsemanship points each outing this season.
For the Gamecocks, the event has been less kind, with their starters averaging 1.9 Horsemanship points.
Reining
A pair of Tigers reiners earned All-American Honorable Mention recognition this season. Kate Buchanan and Isabella Tesmer led Auburn’s squad to an average of 3.1 Reining points overall.
Points in this event have been at a premium for South Carolina this season, with the Gamecocks’ starters averaging just north of 2.3 Reining points.
Outlook for the Meet
The first half will feature Fences and Reining, where Auburn will look to take at least a 6-4 lead into halftime. If the Tigers do especially well in those events, the lead could be even larger, and probably insurmountable.
South Carolina will hope to counter with a strong second half performance on the Flat, but even if they’re able, it might not be enough to upset Auburn.
If this meet follows a similar storyline to the previous three contests between these teams, Auburn will grab victory with dominant performances in Fences, Horsemanship, and Reining, rendering moot any Flat success Carolina may have.
Other Tournament Action
Should Auburn advance, their Friday opponent would be the winner of 3-seed Oklahoma State and 6-seed Georgia.
That meet will feature a contrast of strengths as the Cowgirls boast top-4 squads in every event except the Flat, while the Bulldogs’ Flat team leads the nation in average points production.
A look at the season production stats suggests Auburn may also have landed in the easier side of the tournament bracket.
Top-seed SMU will face a strong Baylor team, which even as the 8-seed tends to average more points than 7-seed South Carolina.
The other quarterfinal meet will see 4-seed TCU square off against 5-seed Texas A&M. Both the Horned Frogs and Aggies have averaged more points production than anyone but Auburn on the Tigers’ side of the bracket.
Even with this quirk of seeding, Auburn fans would do well to remember that stats and previous performance aren’t always predictors of the future.
Twice before the Tigers have experienced early upset exits at the National Championships. This weekend will show whether this year’s team is able to reach its potential when it matters most.
Following the Action
Fans are encouraged to follow Auburn Equestrian’s official accounts on social media for live updates.
The NCEA also has a Championship Central page setup with links to the schedule, a pay-per-view livestream, and other tournament information.
And of course, I’ll be there as well, reporting on the action as only the country’s leading college equestrian analyst can.
Thankyouverymuch.