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No. 9 SMU returns to the NCEA National Championships which start this Thursday in Waco. SMU is the No. 5 seed in the Hunter Seat bracket.

The first opponent for the Mustangs will be Tennesee-Martin. The Skyhawks are 3-7 overall, with a 4-6 record in the Hunter Seat portions of their competitions. SMU and UTM did not meet this season. The flat competition starts at 8:30am, with the fences portion following later in the day at 12:30pm.

After getting off to a 5-1 start, SMU cooled off a bit towards the end of 2011. The Mustangs completed the fall portion of the schedule with a 5-4 record. A great spring against tough competition gave SMU a 7-5 regular season record.

SMU has been led this season by All-American freshman Emma Roberts, who has a 10-0 record with 3 MVPs over fences. Captain Jordyn Pettersen has also had a fantastic season over fences, compiling a record of 8-4 with 2 MVPs. Pettersen's record appears to be off from her stellar season in 2011 but this year she has had her share of bad luck with two 1-point losses and a 2-point loss. Julianna Fischer also has an 8-4 record with 1 MVP over fences.

Fischer (4-3) has also been SMU's top performer on the flat, with Courtney Line (6-5) and Renick Townshend (5-5, 1 MVP) also having nice seasons. Emma Roberts has made recent contributions on the flat as well, compiling a 2-1 record with 1 MVP.

Tennessee-Martin relies heavily on two riders who compete in both English disciplines. Kara Bergenty is 7-2 with 3 MVPs over fences and 6-3 on the flat. Caroline Cramer is 6-3 with 1 MVP over fences and 4-4-1 with 2 MVPs on the flat.

Brittany Kasprack is 2-2 with 1 MVP over fences, but the remainder of the Skyhawks are all below .500 with no MVPs in either discipline.

SMU should be reasonable favorites in this matchup, as the Mustangs have a better top end as well as more depth - which will be a difficult combination for the Skyhawks to overcome. Hopefully, SMU will get good draws, have good rides, and advance to the quarterfinals.

A win over Tennessee-Martin would give SMU a quarterfinal matchup against Baylor Thursday afternoon.

Go Ponies!

Awesome to see some updates and pictures from the team in Waco!

If we are fortunate enough to get past Tennessee-Martin tomorrow, we turn right around and face Baylor in the afternoon with the flat competition starting at 3:30 and the fences competition starting at 5:30.

So, at the risk of looking ahead, here is a quick look at Baylor.

The Bears are currently ranked No. 6, and are strong across the board. They pretty much took it to us in a 9-3 win back in November when we were in the midst of our fall swoon, although the raw score that day was only 933-896 in Baylor's favor. All-American Emma Roberts and team captain Jordyn Pettersen both earned their point over fences for SMU that day.

Baylor features an All-American in both fences (Lisa Goldman) and the flat (Taylor Brown). Goldman is also an honorable mention All-American on the flat.

In the regular season over fences, Goldman was an impressive 11-2 with 3 MVP. Baylor also had nice fences seasons from Ashley McGeehee (8-4, 2 MVPs) and Kara Fergusson (8-5)

On the flat, Brown posted a regular season record of 11-2 with 3 MVPs. Goldman was 9-3 with 3 MVPs. The other Bears rider who has made a nice contributions on the flat is Fergusson who was 7-5 with 1 MVP.

Baylor obviously brings three strong riders in each discipline, which will be a bit of a test of the depth of the Mustangs. Beyond the top Bears riders, the records and scores are pretty similar to the scores of SMU's next tier of riders, so this competition very well might come down to the matchups out of the draw. If a couple of SMU riders step up with big rides we could very well see the team in the semifinals on Friday.

One other thing to note - the Baylor equestrian team has been mentioned as being involved in the recent reports of NCAA investigations in Waco, so their team will probably be a bit distracted. Hopefully, SMU can use this to our advantage.

But, we do need to make sure to get past UTM first.

Go Ponies!

There is supposed to be a live video stream of the championships available at http://varsityequestrian.com/competitions/nationalchampionship.html.

Bracket A is underway for the flat - we are in Bracket B so it will be a little bit.

I watched the live feed for a few minutes. Everyone looks the same.

According to the SMU Equestrian twitter feed, it is 2-2 after the flat.

Fences are at 12:30.

Is there such thing as a "home field advantage" in equestrian?

Sorry if it's a dumb question. I just don't know anything about it.

SMU advances to the quarterfinals with a 5-3 win!

Known points: Fences (Pettersen, Fischer), Flat (Pettersen)

The Q wrote:Is there such thing as a "home field advantage" in equestrian?

Sorry if it's a dumb question. I just don't know anything about it.

There certainly would be if it was at your home facility and you were riding your horses since you would be familiar with the surroundings and have a better feel for the terrain.

In this case, the championships are not at the same place where Baylor competes and trains so it wouldn't be much of an advantage other than having more crowd support. They are also using horses from all over the country this weekend so Baylor would not have an advantage there either.

As reported on our equestrian facebook page, this if the first time SMU has reached the second round in history!

Congratulations and good luck against Baylor!

There was only one big upset in the preliminary round - with Oklahoma State (11) beating New Mexico State (6). Although, there was a nice minor upset with TCU (8) going down to Kansas State (9).

Quarterfinal matchups:

(1) Auburn vs. (9) Kansas State
(2) South Carolina vs. (7) Texas A&M
(3) Georgia vs. (11) Oklahoma State
(4) Baylor vs. (5) SMU

SMU/Baylor and Auburn/KSU are later today. The other two take place Friday morning. We would face the Auburn/KSU winner if we advance.

No idea what is going on - the updates from the NCEA and SMU have stopped tonight - but based on what I have been able to gather on the live video stream we aren't doing to well against Baylor...

We are definitely in trouble - neither Jordyn nor Emma got their point over fences (even though Roberts turned in a huge ride of 80/79 159).

I'm sure the NCEA will have the final totals out soon.

SMU has confirmed we did fall to Baylor. We face Kansas State in the consolation bracket tomorrow.

The flat competition is scheduled to begin at 12:30 and fences is scheduled for 4:30.

Go Ponies!

Looking ahead to the consolation matcup against KSU, SMU should have a decent shot against the Wildcats.

On the flat, KSU has one honorable mention All-American in Larissa Laffley (7-4, 2 MVPs). The other rider to watch is Meredith Finch, who looks to be a hot/cold rider with a 6-5 record but 3 MVPs.

Over fences, KSU looks like they could be susceptible. They have one honorable mention All-American - Sarah Mershon who is a consistent rider with a 9-2 record but no MVPs. Other than Mershon, they actually don't have anybody over .500 and only one other MVP.

It will be interesting to see how SMU did today once we see the scores, but with our strength over fences we should definitely be in the position to take fences, so this one should come down to SMU being able to take two points on the flat. It will certainly be fun!

Go Ponies!

Results from today thanks to SMU:

SMU vs. UTM

http://www.smumustangs.com/sports/w-equest/recaps/041212aab.html

Flat 2-2 - UTM 2 (494), SMU 2 (372)
Emma Roberts 111 (61, 50) def. Kara Bergenty 105 (54, 51)
Jordyn Pettersen 125 (69, 56) def. Caroline Cramer 113 (50, 63)
Hunter Ralston 139 (71, 68) def. Courtney Line 0
Mykaela Van Selus 137 (66, 71) def. Julianna Fischer 136 (63, 73)

Fences 3-1 - SMU 3 (626), UTM 1 (532)
Jordyn Pettersen 164 (82, 82) def. Caroline Cramer 131
Kara Bergenty 149 (79, 70) def. Emma Roberts 145 (73, 72)
Courtney Line 161 (83, 78) def. Katie Miranda 108 (53, 55)
Julianna Fischer 156 (79, 77) def. Reid Ricket 144

SMU vs. Baylor

http://www.smumustangs.com/sports/w-equest/recaps/041212aac.html

Flat - Baylor 4 (575), SMU 0 (535)
Kim Woodsum 144 def. Courtney Line 140
Samantha Schaefer 160 def. Rachel Reid 143
Lisa Goldman 128 def. Emma Roberts 118
Taylor Brown 143 def. Julianna Fischer 134

Fences - Baylor 3 (628), SMU 1 (587)
Samantha Schaefer 177 def. Courtney Line 151
Taylor Brown 157 def. Jordyn Pettersen 146
Julianna Fischer 131 def. Lisa Goldman 129
Ashleyann McGehee 165 def. Emma Roberts 159

After digesting the scores, it really makes you wish you there when you realize Pettersen and Roberts were matched up against Bergenty and Cramer in both disciplines in the UTM match. Wow, talk about going strength on strength! Emma obviously suffered a bit dropping her point over fences, but what a great job by Jordyn to take both of her points. The 1-point loss by Julianna on the flat obviously made the overall score closer than it probably should have been. Also, Courtney's zero-score on the flat makes the raw score a bit lopsided as well - especially in a dual-judge competition.

As for the Baylor meet, we did pretty well but Baylor was just too good. On the flat, we put up decent scores but it would have been nice to take advantage of a subpar ride by Lisa Goldman. Over fences, it just wasn't our day. Julianna actually had a fence fault and still ended up with our only point. Emma put up a great score but against a team like Baylor you always run the risk of facing another top-quality rider like she did. I'm sure Jordyn wishes she had one of her classic Jordyn scores to give us a chance to get a point even though she was facing a 157 against her. The fences scores were still fantastic from SMU though - Baylor just lit it up.

In retrospect, we can't lose sight of the fact it was a historic day for the SMU equestrian program - one we will always remember. Getting two rounds of real competition in at the national championships will pay massive dividends in the future with such a young SMU team. After missing the tournament last year, SMU really didn't have any experience in such a big competition, so today's results have to be taken as a positive.

Hopefully, after a good night of sleep the team will go into the consolation bracket competition relaxed and have the great rides we all know they are capable of having.

Thanks to the team for an exciting day and good luck on Friday!

Go Ponies!