TCU equestrian wins National Championship
4/19/2008 12:00:00 AM | Equestrian
April 19, 2008
WACO, Texas- In just its second year of competition, the TCU equestrian team has captured the Varsity Equestrian Western National Championship, thus finishing the season a perfect 15-0.
TCU did not win the title without some drama, as their match against the No. 2 seed Georgia came down to a tiebreaker won by the Frogs 1027-1026. The two teams battled to a 4-4 tie after splitting the Horsemanship and the Reining.
Freshman Ashton Mickunas scored a crucial point for the Frogs defeating her opponent 144-143.5. With the win, Mickunas became the only rider for TCU to go undefeated throughout the tournament with a 2-0 record, with wins against Georgia and Kansas State.
Senior Jessica Bailey won her match in Horsemanship to go 2-0 this season against the Bulldogs. Bailey earned MVP honors in the earlier matchup this season on Sept. 23 in Athens, Ga. Bailey competed for Georgia for two seasons prior to coming to TCU last year.
"It's nice to be surrounded by people that believe and trust you," Bailey said. "They know that with every step you're doing the right thing, and that's why I came to TCU."
With the tiebreaker win against Georgia Saturday, the Frogs won the two matchups against the Bulldogs by a combined total of eleven points, after winning the tiebreaker 658-648 in the first meeting.
With the win, TCU set equestrian history for the second year in a row, after becoming the first team to ever reach the Varsity Equestrian Championships in its inaugural season, last year. TCU is now the fastest school to ever win a national championship in the sport's ten-year history.
"God bless this team," Head Coach Gary Reynolds said. "I thank these girls who've worked so hard and sacrificed so much to get to this point."
For TCU it was just the 15th national championship in the school's history, and the first team championship since 1983 when women's golf accomplished the feat.
Players Mentioned
