The No. 2 Georgia equestrian team defeated No. 8 Fresno State 16-4 Saturday morning at the UGA Equestrian Complex. Georgia only gave up one point in each event of the day. With the win, Georgia improves to 9-2. Fresno State falls to 3-6.
Georgia took home all four MOP honors with Rachel Kolb (Horsemanship), Meg O’Mara(Equitation on the Flat and Equitation Over Fences), and Claudia Spreng (Reining) winning the award.
“It feels very good to come out on top,” Georgia head coach Meghan Boenig said. “There were some stronger rides that we put in today, we had prettier weather, and great fans came out to support us. We need to continue to build and there were some little loops that we fixed today, which I am very proud to see, but we still have our homework to do. We need to keep riding strong.”
Competition kicked off with Equitation Over Fences, where Georgia jumped to an early 4-1 lead over Fresno State. Addy Cord won the first point for Georgia, edging Paige Pastorino 81-80. Liza Finsness defeated Fresno State’s Dani Schneider 85-69 beforeLeylan Gleeson outscored Alex Dirickson 79-60. O’Mara rode to an event high and MOP-earning 86-80 victory over Kylina Chalack. Fresno State took the final point with Sierra Swaffar defeating Alex Maracic 60-50.
In Horsemanship, Georgia’s Madison Anger fell to Taylor Brown 73-65.5, giving Fresno State its lone point of the event. The next four points went to Georgia. Bailey Andersondefeated Rachel Williams 73-72 before Graysen Stroud edged Taylor Dixon 65-64.5.Heather Schmidt rode to a 72-66 victory over Sydney Elliott before Kolb closed out the event with an MOP-earning 74.5-70 win over Taeya Harle.
Georgia led Fresno State 8-2 at intermission.
Equitation on the Flat started with Georgia and Fresno State splitting the first two points. Gleeson grabbed a point for Georgia over Fresno State’s Swaffar 80-77 before Cord fell to Chalack 84-80. Georgia took the last three points of the event with Finsness defeating Genna Fogelberg 80-78, O’Mara riding to an MOP earning 86 over Dirickson’s 78, and Maddie Newman outscoring Savannah Bernard 79-73.
Competition concluded in Reining with Lauren Garmon and Lindsey Cheek putting the first two points of the event on the board for Georgia. Fresno State’s Taylor Brown won the next point, edging Graysen Stroud 70.5-70 before Kyndall Harper defeated Aly Frias 69.5-67.5. The last ride of the day was an MOP earning ride from Claudia Spreng, who outscored Sydney Elliott 70.5-69.
Immediately following competition, Georgia honored the 14 seniors on their roster. The four seniors that competed won their points for Georgia including Garmon (Reining), Gleeson (Equitation on the Flat and Equitation Over Fences), Kolb (Horsemanship), and Schmidt (Horsemanship).
This concludes two days of competition at the UGA Equestrian Complex with Kansas State and Fresno State. On Friday morning Georgia defeated Kansas State 15-4. That afternoon Georgia hosted a neutral-site meet between Kansas State and Fresno State with the Wildcats defeating the Bulldogs 8-7.
“This weekend was great prep for the SEC Championship,” Beonig said. “You can not have any better prep as far as structure goes than hosting a double header like this. From an arena set up to double rides, horse availability and longer days, it’s incredible prep. We’re excited to host the championship.”
Georgia will conclude regular season competition next week when the team travels to New Mexico State. Competition is slated to begin at 10 a.m. ET on Saturday, March 5.
Georgia will host the Southeastern Conference Championship at the UGA Equestrian Complex on March 25-26.