Auburn's No. 1 Equestrian team traveled north for Nov. 7 and 8 meets and came home with wins.
The women competed against Sacred Heart University in Bethany, Conn., Saturday.
"(The meet) was a little more disorganized than we're used to," said junior Western rider Jillian Fuller. "We kind of bared with them, and overall it was a good day."
Four riders competed in each event instead of the usual five, and the facilities only allowed one event to take place at a time.
"To win on horses we've never seen before and to win in a place we've never been, we pulled off a big victory," said Head Coach Greg Williams.
All riders dealt with Sacred Heart's smaller program and difficult horses.
"(The meet) was a lot different because their team was very small," said freshman Hunt Seat rider Lindsay Portela. "It was good practice for Delaware State."
The team left Sacred Heart with a 14-2 win and traveled to Delaware State University last Sunday.
The team competed and came out of the meet with a 12 - 8 win.
Several women earned MVP honors at the meet.
Recognized riders were Portela in Hunt Seat Equitation over Fences,
Grace Socha in Hunt Seat equitation on the Flat and Fuller in Western Reining.
In Hunt Seat Equitation over Fences, the team won 4-1 over the Hornets.
Portela won over Frayser Tuttle 80-79. Dottie Grubb defeated Kamerra Brown 80-0.
Katie Breedlove defeated Caroline Foltz 56-55, and Chelsea Anheuser got the point over Kayleigh Karnback 81-78. Anna Becker lost one point to Delaware State's Kayla Blair.
The women won 3-2 in the Hunt Seat equitation on the flat.
Socha defeated Blair 75-69. Maggie McAlary received a point over Fotz 71-69.
Elise Fraza won over Tuttle 67-66.
Anna Schierholz came up short to Brown 68-66 and Rachel Cooper lost a point to Ashley Butler 63-60.
"The whole team rode really well," Portela said. "We went out there to win and nobody had a bad ride. We won almost every point in the Hunt Seat."
The Western Horsemanship riders won their event over Delaware 3-2, although Hornet's rider Morgan Scuse received the MVP honor for the event.
Scuse came out over Jessica Jones 75-71 and Anna Beck lost the point to Jessica Pierson 72.5-67.
Auburn's Kristin Hansen got a 72 over Delaware State's Brittni Collins' 67.
Other points Auburn racked up were from Indy Roper with a 71.5 over Mackenzie Trueba's 68.5, and Kylie Miller received a 72 defeating Amanda Hotz with a 71.5.
"Their horses, compared to what we had the day before were very nice," Fuller said. "They had some very nice reining horses and I saw some good horsemanship horses. I didn't hear anyone complaining. We couldn't have asked for much better."
Auburn came up short in the Western Reining. The riders lost the event to the Hornets 3-2.
Fuller, in her first long-distance meet, won the MVP honor with a 69 over Scuse's 66.
The other point winning ride went to Shannon Hinton with a 65.5 over Alicia Maynard with a 64.
Hotz defeated Kelsey George 67-65.5. Delaware's Breann Huyett won 69 to Kim Pope's 68.5 and Collins won by half a point with a 60.5 over Paige Monfore's 60.
"I've got to give a lot of credit to Coach Helfer and Coach Neubarth," Williams said. "They've put so much thought into what's going to prepare these riders, and I don't think there's anybody in the country that can prepare riders as well as they do."
Although the team is No. 1 in the nation, the riders don't let the rank get to their heads.
"We really want a national championship this year," Portela said. "To be No. 1 right now is awesome, but our end goal is really to win a national championship and as a team we know we can do it."
The team will travel to Athens Nov. 13 to face the No. 2 ranked University of Georgia Bulldogs.
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