No. 3 SMU equestrian rallies past No. 4 Texas A&M

[PonyPride]

From SMUMustangs.com:

Mustangs Rally To Take Down No. 4 Texas A&M

DALLAS (SMU) – The third-ranked SMU equestrian team defeated No. 4 Texas A&M in raw score after tying at nine on Thursday afternoon at the Dallas Equestrian Center. The final raw score was 1605.25-1561.50.

"It was a quality win against a very good Texas A&M team," Head Coach Carol Gwin said. "This team continues to battle hard, work well together, and are very balanced in all four events. I'm happy with our performance knocking off undefeated Texas A&M today."

SMU (2-1) took two out of four of the Most Outstanding Performer (MOP) awards. Nya Kearns claimed the accolade in Horsemanship, and Emma Engel earned the accolade on the Flat.

Thursday's meet began with Fences and Horsemanship events occurring simultaneously.

Hannah Hoch got the Mustangs on the board first in Fences, winning 78-40 over Brooke Brombach. Taylor Madden picked up SMU's second Fences point with an 87 to beat Texas A&M's Devon H. Thomas's 82.

SMU came away victorious in Horsemanship with an overall score of 3-2. Kearns earned her second MOP of the season off a 78-76.5 win over Texas A&M's Ellie Gerbrandt. The Mustangs' second and third scores came from Caroline Nielson's 75.5-71.5 victory over Ella Petak and Jayna Lagace's 75.5-74.5 win against Millie Landon.

The second half of the meet saw Reining and Flat coincide with the teams knotted at five apiece.

Emma Engel regained SMU's lead with an 86-82 victory over Rylee Shufelt. Katy Merchant tied her opponent's score of 64. The Aggies took two more points, but Emma Engel finished the contest on the Flat with a 78-67 victory over Devan M. Thomas of Texas A&M.

Chalyce Head countered two Aggie Reining points with a 68.5-68 victory over Texas A&M's Dylanne Rodriguez. Maria Richards and her opponent tied after both posting scores of 69.

With the Mustangs trailing 9-8, Taylor Zimmerman notched a 70 to tie the meet at nine. The Mustangs would go on to win 1605.25-1561.50 in the raw score.

SMU returns to action when it hosts second-ranked Auburn on Nov. 11 at the Dallas Equestrian Center.

[Terry Webster]

Sounds like quite a match. Always good to beat the Aggies.