Aubrun Equestrian – You may be one of those people who like to gently into incredibly cold water, spreading out the ice shock over a good long period, until you eventually get acclimated to the delightful coldness of the water.
If, on the other hand, you’re anything like the Auburn Equestrian team, you’ll simply dive right in and get started.
In college equestrian, it is customary to try to schedule a few of competitions against teams from other conferences than the Southeastern Conference before beginning the grueling schedule of SEC play. This allows you to evaluate the performance of some of the new starters in your lineup.
This past Friday, Auburn dove headfirst into the middle of conference action with a challenging road trip to face a powerful Georgia team that many people thought would have the upper hand over the Tigers.
A lot of people, including myself, had the incorrect idea.
The event that has always been one of Auburn’s strongest, “Fences,” was the first competition of the meet. Ellie Ferrigno, a junior, not only triumphed in her ride, but she also was awarded the prize for Most Outstanding Performance. Two more sophomores, Sophee Steckbeck and Ava Stearns, joined her in contributing to the winning side of the scoreboard. Because of their contributions, Auburn started the day in front, 3-2.
The next event, Horsemanship, had two first-year competitors for Auburn, making it the third event of the day. The rookie Alexia Tordoff ended up winning both her point and the Most Outstanding Performer title for the competition. Both senior Maddie Spak and sophomore Madison Parduhn won their respective matches for the Tigers. Therefore, Auburn entered the break with an overall lead of 6-4 following the Horsemanship competition, which they won 3-2.
This portion of the get-together was, for the most part, in line with what “many individuals” described above anticipated to happen. The second part of the race, however, would be Auburn’s true test, since it would consist of the two competitions that orange and blue riders had a great deal of difficulty with during the previous season.
In the race Equitation On the Flat, Auburn competed to the best of their ability and won. Emma Kurtz, a graduate, and Mary-Grace Segars, a sophomore, both earned a point, while Ellie Ferrigno challenged Georgia’s most experienced returning Flat rider to a no-point tie. The event ended with a score of 2-2, which meant the total score was 8-6, and Auburn needed just two more points to win the competition.
This meant that everything would come down to the Reining competition, an event in which Auburn was eliminated in the first round of the national championship tournament back in April after being swept 5-0. However, the Auburn Reiners of this year were keen to demonstrate that they had progressed somewhat from the previous season.
The first point of the competition was earned by Auburn senior Boo Kammerer, while her junior teammate Isabella Tesmer took home the second point. Even though the Tigers had already clinched the match at this time, junior Kate Buchanan wasn’t finished yet. Her ride earned the last point of the competition and served as the capper to the Reining team’s impressive showing.
After that, a deafening shout came from the sizeable Auburn contingent, which came dangerously close to obliterating the announcement of the final score, 11-8.
It’s possible that they were yelling in disbelief or perhaps relief. But regardless of what it was, they did not waste any time and got started straight away.
SCORESHEET:
10/7/2022 | Auburn 11 – Georgia 8
FENCES:
- Jordan Toering (GA) defeated Mary-Grace Segars (AU): 82-81
- Ceci Bresch (GA) defeated Ava Stearns (AU) 85-83.
- Jennifer Staniloff (GA) wins 81-78 against Emma Kurtz (AU).
- Sophee Steckbeck (AU) wins 85-79 against Emma Reichow (GA).
- *Ellie Ferrigno (AU) wins 88-86 against Rachel McMullen (GA).
- *Nora Andrews (GA) defeated Sophee Steckbeck (AU) 87-79.
- Ellie Ferrigno (AU) matched Jordan Toering (GA) with a score of 87-87.
- Emma Kurtz (AU) wins 75-72 against Sophia Pilla (GA).
- Ava Stearns (AU) defeated Jessica Guginsky (GA) 80-77.
- Ceci Bresch (GA) defeated Mary-Grace Segars (AU) 88-87.
- *Alexia Tordoff (AU) defeats Grace Himes (GA): 76-74
- Maddie Spak (AU) wins 75.5-74.5 against Leah Anderson (GA).
- Jillian Stopperich (GA) wins 76-75.5 against Olivia Tordoff (AU).
- Madison Parduhn (AU) wins 73.5-67 against Kendall Gill (GA).
- Caroline Fredenburg (AU) defeated Sara Lewis (GA) 76.5-73.
- Boo Kammerer (AU) defeated Caitlin Lyons (GA) 70.5-69.5.
- Jax Bound (GA) defeated Isabella Tesmer (AU) 72-71.5.
- Caroline Buchanan (AU) defeated Courtney Blumer (GA) 70.5-69.5.
- *Raegan Shepherd (GA) wins 72.5-71 against Alexia Tordoff (AU).
- Hannah Jane Lucas (GA) defeated Kate Buchanan (AU) 72-70.
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