JACKRABBITS OPEN ECAC CHAMPIONSHIPS WITH UMC

Photo by: Dave Eggen/Inertia

3/24/2024 6:37:00 PM | Equestrian

South Dakota State at 2024 ECAC Dual Discipline Equestrian Championship

When/Where	Monday-Wednesday, March 25-27 • Murieta Equestrian Center; Rancho Murieta, Calif. \| Championship Home Page Monday, March 25 #4 South Dakota State 14, #5 Minnesota Crookston 2, 11 a.m. Pacific • Flat, Horsemanship, Fences, Reining Tuesday, March 26 #4 SDSU vs. #1 UT Martin, 9 a.m. PT (Reining, Fences, Horsemanship, Flat) #3 Delaware State at #2 UC Davis, 11 a.m. PT (Reining, Fences, Horsemanship, Flat) Wednesday, March 27 Championship Matchup, 8 a.m. PT
TV	ClipMyHorse.tv
Live Results	Monday: UMC vs. SDSU \| Tuesday: SDSU vs UT Martin
Meet Notes	See Below
Social Media	Twitter \| Facebook

The South Dakota State equestrian team enters postseason competition Monday by squaring off against Minnesota Crookston in the opening round of the ECAC Dual Discipline Equestrian Championship hosted by UC Davis.

Start time for the matchup is set for 11 a.m. Pacific Time (1 p.m. Central) at the Murieta Equestrian Center in Rancho Murieta, California. SDSU is seeded fourth while UMC is the No. 5 seed. The winner of Monday's head-to-head competition advances to face top-seeded UT Martin Tuesday morning. The three-day tournament concludes Wednesday.

UC Davis is the defending champion after downing UT Martin, 10-8, in the finals of the 2023 ECAC Championship hosted by South Dakota State.

SDSU posted a 3-7 overall record in head-to-head competition during the regular season, including a 2-3 mark against ECAC opponents. Both the Jackrabbits' victories against league foes were against Minnesota Crookston — a 16-2 victory on Nov. 4 and a 14-6 triumph on Feb. 10.

STARTING LINEUP: Following are the projected riders for the Jackrabbits at the ECAC Championship. Records in head-to-head competition from the 2023-24 season by event are listed in parentheses, as well as high score. Four riders will compete in each event in the first-round matchup against Minnesota Crookston, while the semifinal and championship rounds will feature five-rider lineups.

Fences	Flat	Horsemanship	Reining
Cali Karbler (4-6, 82)	Cali Karbler (3-7, 84)	Shelby Cochran (3-6-1, 75.5)	Paige Butterfield (3-3-3, 75.5)
Sophia Kregoski (5-5, 86)	Sophia Kregoski (2-4-1, 876)	Annika Hanson (2-7, 75)	Shelby Cochran (4-3-2, 75)
Hannah Steele (4-6, 86)	Hannah Steele (4-6, 88)	Grace Gerbus (3-5, 78)	Adisyn Kuxhaus (4-4-1, 73)
Julia Werkhoven (6-4, 85)	Julia Werkhoven (7-2, 90)	Paige Wellendorf (6-2-2, 75.5)	Emilie Strahm (3-7, 71.5)
Alt. Kayla Scherer (1-4, 85)	Alt. Virginia Klecker (1-8, 79)	Alt. Brighton McBride (0-6-1, 74.5)	Alt. Brighton McBride (2-7, 71.5)
Alt. Kate Koehl (0-1, 83)	Alt. Kate Koehl (0-0)	Alt. Maryn Mead (0-0)	Alt. Maryn Mead (0-0)

RIDERS OF THE WEEK: South Dakota State's Julia Werkhoven has been named as the ECAC Equestrian Rider of the Week in the fences category after a successful weekend against a pair of Southeastern Conference opponents.

A senior from Tempe, Arizona, Werkhoven posted a 2-0 record in head-to-head competition at South Carolina and Georgia. In her March 1 matchup against USC's Natalie Jaynes, Werkhoven recorded an 84-81 victory. The next day against Georgia's Catalina Peralta she scored an 85-84 victory to improve to 6-4 in head-to-head fences competition this season.

Werkhoven also leads the Jackrabbits in flat with a 7-3 record after splitting her matchups last weekend. She was previously honored as the ECAC Equestrian Rider of the Week for flat on Oct. 9, when SDSU claimed all four ECAC Rider of the Week awards following its opening weekend of competition.

In the jumping seat events, Sophia Kregoski (fences) and Werkhoven (flat) were honored for their performances Oct. 6 against South Carolina and Oct. 7 versus Fresno State. Paige Wellendorf (horsemanship) and Shelby Cochran (reining) received the awards in the Western events.

Kregoski, a sophomore from Rescue, California, picked up a pair of points in fences after scoring 83 in her matchup versus South Carolina and earning Most Outstanding Performer (MOP) recognition after posting a score of 84 versus Fresno State.

A senior from Tempe, Arizona, Werkhoven went 2-0 in flat with respective scores of 77 and 82 against South Carolina and Fresno State. Her 82-point ride resulted in MOP honors in the event.

Wellendorf, a junior from Kearney, Missouri, notched a 2-0 record in horsemanship with winning scores of 75 against South Carolina and 70 in horsemanship.

Cochran made her reining debut in the head-to-head competition against Fresno State, winning her matchup with a score of 68. Cochran is a senior from Oxford, Iowa.

A LOOK AHEAD: The National Collegiate Equestrian Association's top eight teams will compete in the NCEA National Championship April 18-20 in Ocala, Florida. The field will be selected after this week's conference champoinships.

-GoJacks.com-