While Paige Monfore, senior in premedicine, is riding out her last year on the Plains with a bang, she still believes in Auburn and loves it.
"I chose Auburn because of the family and the goals of the team," Monfore said. "They were so nice and so welcoming. I just really felt like I fit in."
Monfore, a highly regarded rider, helped spur the equestrian team to win the SEC Championship and the National Championship, which she said made 2011 a year she will never forget.
"This year has been absolutely great," Monfore said. "We've worked so hard together as a team and really became a close-knit group of girls. Everyone had a great work effort and we all had one goal in mind, which was winning a national championship."
Monfore received a call Tuesday from the National Reining Horse Association and was informed that she was the No. 1 rider selected to compete in front of well-known trainers at the 2011 NRHA Collegiate Ring Championships in Oklahoma City, Okla.
"It's a pretty big deal," Monfore said.
Monfore made her mark as a senior on the equestrian team as one of the three Auburn riders who earned MVP awards at nationals, taking the reining MVP award and earning the highest score.
"Being third in the country my sophomore year was amazing," Monfore said. "This year I had the highest score at nationals with a 150.5. I was also named the reining most valuable player at nationals. And we won SEC and the overall titles at nationals."
Monfore has created a bond with the girls on the national championship team and appreciates the importance of having great teammates.
"It was just special to have a group of girls who are so close like we're sisters," Monfore said. "We always have each other's backs, and we treat each other really well."
Head coach Greg Williams also sees the strong bond between teammates.
"This national championship for the Auburn fans is due to the hard work of coach Neubarth and coach Helfer and a group of girls that will do anything for each other," Williams said after winning the championship.
While she has grown as a rider and competed at higher national levels while on the Plains, she has also grown as a person.
"I think the greatest growing experience I've had at Auburn is the transition of becoming an upperclassman versus a lowerclassman and becoming a leader," Monfore said. "I really learned how to lead a group of people."
She has excelled not only as an athlete, but also as a student.
A member of the Chi Alpha Sigma Athletic Honor Society, Monfore has been named to the SEC Academic Honor Roll.
She was one of 235 student-athletes honored Monday as Top Tigers at the Athletic Department's inaugural "AUSPY Awards," which recognized the top athletic and academic achievements by student-athletes during the 2011-12 academic year.
Top Tigers awards go to student-athletes who achieve a minimum 3.0 grade point average for the last academic year or for their career.
Monfore has done a lot in her college career, and plans to continue to do more after crossing the stage at graduation.
"I'm planning to take a year off and show a lot more and hopefully ride horses in Italy," Monfore said. "Then I would like to go to medical school."
The senior said she has always wanted to travel abroad, but never had time because of her responsibilities as a college athlete.
In Italy, Monfore wants to become a horse trainer and later return to the states after a year overseas to attend a medical school near her home.
"I would like to specialize in something involving surgery, but I'm not exactly sure of what I want to do," Monfore said. "I would like to get into (school) in my home state, which I'm from Nebraska, so I would like to get into the University of Nebraska Medical Center."
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