COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina’s hunt seat team used a pair of dominating 4-1 wins on Friday to upend SEC foe Texas A&M, 12-8, at One Wood Farm. The Gamecocks improve to 2-2 overall and 2-1 in SEC play, while the Aggies drop to 2-2 overall and 0-1 in conference play.
“I’m really proud of the way we battled today,” South Carolina head coach Boo Major said. “We certainly tip our hats to Texas A&M because we know how good of a team they are, but I was very happy to see us ride well and pull out a hard fought win this afternoon. The girls really wanted this one and they had a good week of practice and it paid off today.”
Friday’s meet began in the western arena, where Texas A&M jumped out to an early lead after winning 3-of-5 points in reining. Gamecock senior Layla Choate won the first point of the meet when she posted an event-high score of 72.5 to defeat Ashley Dotson by two points. Two rides later, freshman Bailey Walters picked up her first collegiate win with a 69.5-68 win over Sarah Kate Grider. The Aggies won the final two reining points to take a 3-2 lead.
“Heading in to the jumping, it was important for us to get those two points,” Major said. “As good as A&M is on the western side, you know you’re going to have to ride hard, and I thought all of our girls did that, and we were able to get two important points.”
Trailing by one, the Gamecocks’ hunt seat team turned in a 4-1 win in equitation over fences to take a 6-4 lead at the halfway point of Friday’s meet. The Aggies won the first jumping point to take a 4-2 lead, but Carolina responded with four straight points to take the lead.
Senior Katherine Schmidt kicked off another 2-for-2 day with an event-high score of 93 to roll past Haley Webster by 13 points, earning the Connecticut native her 21st career MVP, six away from breaking the team record (26) set by Johnna Letchworth from 2010-2014.
Junior Samantha Kraus followed Schmidt with an 85-76 win over Hannah Williams to give Carolina a 4-3 lead. Junior Samantha Smith put the Gamecocks up 5-3 when she edged A&M’s Marlena Parker, 83-78, and senior captain Amber Henter closed the four point sweep with an 80-79 win over Leah Chenelle.
“It was certainly a great performance by the jumping team today and I thought they all rode very well,” Major said. “In a back-and-forth meet like this one, every point is crucial and our girls were on their A-game today.”
South Carolina’s two-point lead disappeared quickly though, as the Aggies won four of the next five points to tie the meet at 8-8. In horsemanship, senior captain Sam Chiodo improved to 4-0 on the season when she edged Texas A&M’s Rachel Lucht, 72.5-71.5. Junior Kelsey Urban picked up her first point of the season and second career MVP when she knocked off Aggie rider Carolyn Day, 74.5-73.5.
Texas A&M tied the meet at 8-8 when the Aggies won the first point in equitation on the flat. But in a repeat of what happened in the jumping ring earlier in the meet, the Gamecocks won four straight points to shut down the Texas A&M comeback. Henter completed her 2-for-2 day with an 86-82 win over Alex Desiderio.
Fellow senior Adele Norton won her first career MVP when she knocked off A&M’s Parker, 88-75. Schmidt followed Norton with an event-high score of 90 to drop Anna Rea by 12 points, giving Schmidt her first career meet with two scores of 90 or above. Kraus closed out the meet with a 76-73 win over Williams.
The Gamecocks will have a short week of practice to get ready for their next meet, when Carolina travels to Fresno State to face the Bulldogs next week.
