Fresno State Athletics
Dogs Head to National Championships
4/15/2009 12:00:00 AM | Equestrian
April 15, 2009
FRESNO, Calif. - It's championship time. That's the message for the Bulldog Equestrian team, which begins Thursday. The Dogs, who have spent the entire season ranked in the nation's top 10, are peaking for the championship event.
For the third straight season Baylor University and Waco, Texas will host the Varsity Equestrian National Championships (VENC) at the Heart of Texas Fair and Rodeo Complex. The eighth annual championships are will being on Thursday, April 16 and continue through Saturday, April 18. The event is open to the public and no admission will be charged.
Varsity equestrian is divided into two areas: English (hunter seat) and western. The University of Georgia claimed the overall championship in 2008 while TCU was the western champion and Auburn won the hunter seat title. The 2008 championships were the first to offer individual competition. South Carolina's Kirstin Terebesi swept the hunter seat fences and flat competitions while Georgia's Sarah Locker was western's reining champion and Caroline Gunn of Texas A&M claimed horsemanship honors.
The Bulldogs open the English competition as the No. 7 seed and will take on No. 10 TCU. Fresno State's Western squad is ranked No. 11 and will take on No. 6 and host Baylor.
Fresno State's Western team is lead by senior horsemanship rider Rebecca Flood and junior reiner Keri Blackledge.
The English team will be led by seniors Katie Nenneker and Cambria Kissell in Fences and Kelsey Bullock and Kimberly Hewson Budnik on the Flat.
Each of the two divisions has a 12-team seeded bracket similar to that of the NCAA basketball championships. Teams are seeded from one through 12 and placed accordingly into the bracket. Auburn is ranked No. 1 in the hunter seat bracket while Texas A&M is ranked at the top in the western bracket.
In collegiate equestrian competition, all riders compete on unfamiliar horses. Each rider is afforded only four minutes in the warm-up pen on the unfamiliar horse before competing in front of the judge. Each rider competes in a head-to-head match-up against a rider with the school they are paired up against.
The Varsity Equestrian National Championships will begin on Thursday at 6:30 a.m. PT and continue through Saturday afternoon.
Thursday
Western Team Bracket
Horsemanship begins at 7 a.m., Reining begins at 9 a.m.
(8) Auburn vs. (8) New Mexico State
(5) Kansas State vs. (12) Tennessee-Martin
(6) Baylor vs. (11) Fresno State
(7) South Carolina vs. (10) South Dakota State
Second round - Thursday afternoon and Friday morning competition
(1) Texas A&M - will face winner (8) Auburn vs. (8) New Mexico State
(4) Oklahoma State will face winner (5) Kansas State vs. (12) Tennessee-Martin
(3) Georgia will face winner (6) Baylor vs. (11) Fresno State
(2) TCU will face winner (7) South Carolina vs. (10) South Dakota State
Hunter Seat Team Bracket
Fences begins at 9 a.m., Flat begins at 11:30 a.m.
(8) Kansas State vs. (9) Tennessee-Martin
(5) Texas A&M vs. (12) Delaware State
(6) Oklahoma State vs. (11) SMU
(7) Fresno State vs. (10) TCU
Second round - Thursday morning and Friday afternoon competition
(1) Auburn vs. winner (8) Kansas State vs. (9) Tennessee-Martin
(4) Baylor vs. (5) Texas A&M vs. (12) Delaware State
(3) South Carolina vs. (6) Oklahoma State vs. (11) SMU
(2) Georgia vs. (7) Fresno State vs. (10) TCU
"Join the State - Fresno State!" -Fresno State will compete at the 2009 Varsity Equestrian National Championships April 16-19 in Waco, Texas.
