Texas A&M Equestrian’s Avery Ellis won the American Quarter Horse Association Collegiate Horsemanship Challenge as part of the Lucas Oil AQHA World Championship Show on Thursday in Oklahoma City.
“I couldn’t be more proud of Avery,” Texas A&M Horsemanship coach Jessie Weisinger said. “She rode extremely well with no penalties in all three rounds on unfamiliar horses. We had a strong contingent of Aggies here in Oklahoma City and rooting from afar, adding to the excitement of the win. We want to thank all of the horse donors and the AQHA for their support of collegiate equestrian. This is a fun event for our riders and highlights the skills of collegiate equestrians.”
Ellis was named champion, defeating TCU’s Megan McMullen, Oklahoma State’s Libby Collins and Delaware State’s Abigail Buckwalter, on There Goes My Zipper, donated by Barbie Evans.
Ellis advanced to the finals, defeating New Mexico State’s Morgan Matzdorff, 146.5-140.5, and Auburn’s Lauren Diaz, 147-145, in the preliminaries on Sunday.
The College Station, Texas native was one of 16 collegiate equestrian riders to be chosen to participate in the competition with eight riders representing the NCEA and eight representing the IHSA.
Since its inception in 2012, the Aggies are the only team from the NCEA to have a representative in the finals each season.
To learn more about the Lucas Oil World Show, visit www.aqha.com/worldshow.
We’d also like to congratulate Megan McMullen on ending up Reserve Champion
