April 18, 2007

Waco, Texas - The Auburn equestrian team finished day one of the Varsity National Championships in Waco, Texas, as both western and hunt seat teams competed in the first half of their competitions. The Tigers will wrap up their first bracket at 10 and 10:30 am, respectively, Thursday.

"The hardest thing for us is that we've been here all day long and didn't get on our horses until 7 pm," said Auburn head coach Greg Williams. "The teams we are facing have already been riding, are loose and have their first meet out of the way, but we've been able to see the horses perform."

In horsemanship, the western team is tied at 2 with New Mexico State, who defeated South Dakota State 7-1 in the first round. The Tigers and Aggies will compete in the reining competition Thursday.

"I would have liked to have gone into tomorrow with a lead, but we have an extremely strong set of reiners and they are ready to compete tomorrow," said Williams. "The reiners need to ride like they have been all year. I feel like we have as strong a set of reiners as anyone, and we are probably fielding the strongest four in the competition."

In the hunt seat, Auburn leads Texas A&M 3-1 with both teams needing to compete in the flat. Texas A&M defeated SMU 6-2 in the first round.

"The girls had phenomenal rides," said Williams. "We are going to the flat phase tomorrow, which is something we perform very well in. Not everything has to be error-free, but they have to be confident and show off how polished they are. They are going to have to be on top of their game and put a little extra into it to win. I feel good about going into this."

Auburn -New Mexico State western winner will face the winner of Texas A&M and Baylor. The Auburn-Texas A&M hunt seat winner will play the winner of South Carolina and Fresno State.

For more information on the Varsity Equestrian National Championships, visit http://www.varsityequestrian.com.