Fresno State Athletics
Fresno State
NCAA Tournament
Equestrian Takes Reserve Champion
3/10/2001 12:00:00 AM | Equestrian
March 10, 2001
FRESNO, Calif. - Fresno State claimed the Reserve Champion title at the "California Classic," the first ever NCAA Equestrian Tournament to be hosted at Fresno State. The Bulldogs placed second of the eight teams overall, taking second in the English category and fourth in the Western category.
The morning started off with the English category. The Bulldogs were in second place, just two points behind Texas A&M at the conclusion of the events. Junior Dawn Crawford (Yucaipa, Calif.) took first in the Intermediate Fences after junior Sarah Woodward (Fresno, Calif.) took fifth in the Open Fences. Following up to Crawford was freshman Andrea Hanson (Schulenberg, Texas) placing first in the Novice Fences. Then Kimberly Dellar (Coarsegold, Calif.) grabbed the second place in the Intermediate Flat followed by a sixth place finish in the Novice Flat by Hanson. The Dog's finished off the English category strong with freshman Michelle Tonello (Santa Paula, Calif.) taking second place in the Open Flat.
The `Dogs then continued their success in the afternoon Western category. Junior Janine Hunt (Kapaau, Hawaii) led off strong for Fresno State by tearing up into the second place spot in the Open Stock Seat. Senior Kalli Bowles (Elk Grove, Calif.) followed up with a fifth place finish in the Advanced Stock Seat. Senior Willow Wakeland (Stockton, Calif.) then battled back by placing third in the Intermediate Stock Seat, leading into IHSA Western leader junior Kendra McQueen's (Stockdale, Calif.) third place finish in the Open Reining.
The 2000 National Champion Texas A&M won the tournament with 42 points, defeating the second-place `Dogs by one point. Oklahoma State finished in third with 49 points with the Ohio State tallying 31 points for fourth.
"This was an incredible day for us, " head coach Megan McGee said. "We got the opportunity to show just the high level of caliber we posses. We showed that we could hold our own with the big boys. The national title is always traded back and forth between Oklahoma State and Texas A&M. We defeated one of those guys and were just one point behind the other. We came out here today and set a very high bar for opponents who face off against us in the future."
The Bulldogs will return to competition tomorrow, hosting an IHSA show at the Animal Science Pavilion. Fresno State will then be home to the IHSA Regional Finals on March 23-25, which will begin at 9 a.m. With the lead the `Dogs hold in the IHSA standings, the team will most likely not have to compete but skip right to the Zone 8 finals, but a number of Bulldogs have qualified individually and will be competing.
