No. 8 Baylor Equestrian Takes On No. 1 SMU at Nationals

[Calderone, Max]

BAYLOR ATHLETICS COMMUNICATIONS – April 12, 2023

No. 8 Baylor Equestrian Takes On No. 1 SMU at Nationals
Bears dropped both regular-season meetings to Mustangs; upset No. 1 Auburn last time as No. 8 seed
For more information contact: Max Calderone, 254-265-1639, Max_Calderone at Baylor.edu<mailto:Max_Calderone at Baylor.edu>

WACO, Texas – No. 8-seeded Baylor equestrian (6-9) begins its quest at the 2023 NCEA National Championship on Thursday, April 13, against No. 1 SMU (10-1), with first rides set for 7:30 a.m. CT at the World Equestrian Center in Ocala, Fla.

A BU win over the Mustangs would earn the Bears a spot in Friday’s semifinals, which begin at 1 p.m. CT. Back-to-back victories would book the Bears a berth to Saturday’s championship starting at 9 a.m. CT.

Ranked at No. 9 in the NCEA’s final regular-season poll, Baylor needed at least one win at the Big 12 Championship to punch its ticket to nationals and came through with a dominating 16-4 victory over Fresno State to cement its case and take third place at the tournament.

“We slipped out of the rankings the last couple of weeks, so there was that threat of not qualifying that was sitting right in front of us,” said head coach Casie Maxwell. “Our team knew that we had to have at least one really strong performance at Big 12’s and hope that that was enough to pull us back in to the rankings. We just keep reminding ourselves that our season could be over, so we’re going to capitalize and enjoy these last couple moments together.”

SMU won both of this season’s previous matchups against the Bears, with a 13-6 win in Dallas on Nov. 4, then a narrow 10-8 victory on March 2 in Waco. BU still holds a 7-6 advantage in the all-time series, though the Mustangs have won each of the last six meetings. This will be just the second postseason contest between the Bears and the Mustangs, as SMU grabbed an 8-6 win in the 2021 semifinals to eliminate BU one meet shy of the national title.

Baylor has advanced to the postseason each year since the program’s inception in 2005-06. Last year, the Bears were eliminated in the first round after falling 13-6 to No. 3 Texas A&M. The last time the Bears were the 8-seed, they knocked off No. 1 Auburn in the 2021 quarterfinals, 8-7, and advanced to the NCEA semis for the first time in the Maxwell era.

All-Big 12 performers Madaline Callaway (Reining), Jenna Meimerstorf (Reining), Madison Mitchell (Flat), Annie Vorhies (Flat), Maddie Vorhies (Flat) and Big 12 Flat Rider of the Year Dominika Silvestri will look to lead the Bears on another strong postseason run.

A full schedule of events, live scoring links, updated brackets and live web stream links are available at the NCEA Championship Central<https://collegiateequestrian.com/sports/2023/2/2/2023%20national%20championship.aspx> page.

To stay up to date throughout the season on all things Baylor equestrian, follow the team on its official Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts: @BaylorEQ.


-BaylorBears.com-



__________________________________

Max Calderone | Associate Director of Athletics Communications (BSB, FB, EQ)
Department of Athletics | Baylor University
C: 254-265-1639

[signature_1360301748]<http://baylorbears.com/>

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.baylor.edu/pipermail/localmedia/attachments/20230412/0b4593c2/attachment-0001.htm>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image001.png
Type: image/png
Size: 11693 bytes
Desc: image001.png
URL: <http://mailman.baylor.edu/pipermail/localmedia/attachments/20230412/0b4593c2/attachment-0001.png>