EQ Advances to Horsemanship Quarterfinals on Day One

Wednesday, April 17

Waco, Texas

8:35 a.m. CT

Baylor

Oklahoma State (Fences)

EQ Advances to Horsemanship Quarterfinals on Day One

4/17/2019 7:29:00 PM | Equestrian

Baylor opens NCEA Championship with first-round win in horsemanship

THE RUNDOWN
WACO, Texas – No. 3 seed Baylor equestrian (9-4) opened NCEA National Championship play with a 3-1 win in horsemanship over South Dakota State after falling to Oklahoma State in equitation over fences Wednesday afternoon at the Extraco Events Center in Waco.

Entering the fences competition as the 11th-seeded team, the Bears suffered a 3-0 loss to conference rival and sixth-seeded Oklahoma State. Madison Day's 247 on Callisto resulted in a tie with OSU's Hannah Janson, managing to keep the Cowgirls from a 4-0 sweep in the discipline.

The sixth-seeded horsemanship squad clinched a 3-1 victory over No. 11 South Dakota State. Kaylee Mellott, Kacie Scharf and Abbi Demel each snagged points for BU, including Mellott's team-high score of 218 on Callie.

Fans can keep up with Baylor's equestrian team on Twitter (@BaylorEQ), Facebook (Baylor Equestrian), and Instagram (@BaylorEquestrian).

TOURNAMENT INFO
2019 NCEA Championships
Extraco Events Center
Waco, Texas, April 17-20, 2019

Thursday, April 18
Team Bracket: Baylor vs. Georgia (Quarterfinals) – 8:30 a.m. CT

Friday, April 19
Reining Bracket: Baylor vs. South Carolina (Quarterfinals) – 8:30 a.m. CT
Flat Bracket: Baylor vs. South Carolina (Quarterfinals) – 1:30 p.m. CT
Horsemanship Bracket: Baylor vs. Oklahoma State (Quarterfinals) – 3 p.m. CT

HIGHLIGHTS
• Baylor horsemanship advanced to the NCEA quarterfinals for the second-straight season.
• Kaylee Mellott posted a team-high score of 218 on Callie.
• In fences, Madison Day posted a team-best score of 247 on Callisto.

STAT OF THE MEET
218 – the team-high score from Kaylee Mellott in horsemanship.

TOP QUOTE
Head coach Casie Maxwell
On the day…
"It shook out some nerves for sure. We need to ride a little bit more confidently in the fences. They've got a lot more ability then what they demonstrated today -- a little bit of tough luck and some tough ponies today. I hope they shook all that out of them for the team round tomorrow and same on the horsemanship. (We) made a couple bad choices here and there, but it was enough to get them through a lot of great riders. Tomorrow's the big important day that we all have to be really good on the same day in order to get to the next round, and we've definitely got a tough opponent but we're perfectly capable of beating them here in Waco, so we're going to focus on that."

WHAT'S NEXT
Baylor opens the team bracket against sixth-seeded Georgia Thursday at 8:30 a.m. at the Extraco Events Center.

In event competition, sixth-seeded horsemanship meets No. 3 seed Oklahoma State in the quarterfinals Friday at 3 p.m.

BU's top-seeded reining squad will take on No. 8 South Carolina on Friday at 8:35 a.m. in the quarterfinals following the Gamecock's 4-0 victory in the discipline over No. 9 TCU in the first round.

Then, the Bears' second-seeded equitation on the flat team will have their shot against the No. 7 USC flat team. The Gamecocks closed out the first round with a 3-1 win over Fresno State.