WACO, Texas – There are seven championships up for grabs on the culminating day of the 2018 National Collegiate Equestrian Association Championship.
And, it’s quite possible Auburn could win them all.
Less than 24 hours after qualifying for the finals in the team competition, the Tigers put together another strong day in all four event brackets, sending teams to the finals in Equitation on the Flat, Equitation over the Fences, Horsemanship and Reining. Because of the points scored in those events, Auburn is the favorite to win the Western and Hunt Seat discipline titles as well.
That could mean seven trophies by the time Saturday wraps up at the Extraco Events Center in Waco.
“There’s a lot of good teams and a lot of good riders and it’s extremely hard to be qualified for everything. But I did know that they were good enough, I absolutely did know that,” Auburn coach Greg Williams said.
The Tigers face Georgia in the team championship along with Equitation on the Flat and Horsemanship event finals. It’ll be Auburn versus Oklahoma State in Equitation over Fences, while a battle with Texas A&M looms in Reining.
Despite all the success in the event brackets, Williams isn’t letting his team lose focus on the ultimate prize. Auburn won the 2016 team crown but fell short to Georgia last April in the semifinals.
The Tigers and Bulldogs will waste no time deciding who the best team in collegiate equestrian is as the action starts at 8:30 a.m.
“Our biggest thing is we just want to win the national championship. That’s our biggest focus and we’re not going to take our eye off that ball,” Williams said. “We get that done and we’re going to look forward to spending the afternoon trying to win some more titles.”
