Sept. 24, 2006
Bulldog Invitational: Baylor's Results
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WACO, Texas - Baylor's equestrian team placed second at Georgia's Bulldog Invitational this weekend at the Animal Science Arena in Athens, Ga. The Bears picked up wins over Kansas State and a combined team but fell in the finals to Georgia.
Overall six Baylor riders earned discipline MVP honors over the course of the two-day tournament. For the Western team, Amanda Graber was the overall Horsemanship MVP. For the individual shows, Graber was the Horsemanship MVP rider against Kansas State.
The English team also earned MVP awards in two shows. April Wehle, Equitation over Fences, and Nicole Brown, Equitation on the Flat, earned posted the best scores in game one against the combined team. In game five against Kansas State, Mary Smitson was the MVP rider for Fences, and finally in the tournament's last game against Georgia, Susie Foster took the MVP award for Fences.
Baylor's first show Saturday morning was against the combined team which featured riders from Baylor, Kansas State, and Georgia. Baylor defeated the combined team 11-4. Wehle, Smitson, Nicole Brown tallied Fences points while Brown, Shelby White, and Cara Wilson earned Flat points for a total of six English points. The Western team posted five points as Graber and Allison Orosz earning Horsemanship points and Graber, Madelyn Mooney and Valtie Riddle recorded Reining points.
In game two against Georgia, Baylor fell 11-4. Wehle and Brown earned Baylor's two English points with their Fences wins while Graber, Horsemanship, and Riddle, Reining, tallied the two Western points.
On Sunday Baylor opened against Big 12 rival Kansas State, a first-time meeting between the two teams, and defeated the Wildcats 8-7. Again Brown led the English team earned points in both her Fences and Flat rides. Smitson added another Fences point while White posted another Flat point for a total of four English points. The Western riders earned the other four points to claim the win and a bid to the tournament championship game. Nicole McCoy, Graber, and Ashleigh Brown posted three Horsemanship points and Graber added the Reining point.
In the Invitational's final match-up, Baylor took on Georgia again in a chance to claim the tournament title. In true fashion Nicole Brown defeated both Bulldogs in her Fences and Flat rides and Foster, over Fences, and Smitson, on the Flat, helped earn the English team's four points. The Western riders looked to tip the scales for the Bears with the 4-4 tied score. Unfortunately Graber was the only Bear to earn Western points, one from each win against Georgia in Horsemanship and Reining. Overall Georgia bested the Bears 9-6 and kept the Invitational title at home.
In an outstanding performance for the Bears, Graber, only a freshman appearing in her first collegiate show, earned a fourth of Baylor's total points, seven out of 29. The Alexis, N.C. native lost only one pairing over the weekend.
Baylor continues its fall schedule Fri., Sept. 29, with the home opener against TCU at the program's new facilities, the Willis Family Equestrian Center. A start time for the head-to-head show will be announced this week.
