No. 1 Auburn at SEC Championship this Weekend
AUBURN, Ala. (auburntigers.com) – The No. 1 Auburn equestrian team opens postseason play at the 2016 SEC Championship this weekend. The Tigers will travel to Bishop, Ga., for the conference meet, competing at the UGA Equestrian Complex.
As the top seed, Auburn will open with a match vs. No. 4 seed South Carolina Friday. Competition kicks off at 8:25 a.m. CT. The winner will face the winner of No. 2 Georgia/No. 3 Texas A&M Saturday in the championship meet beginning at 1 p.m. CT.
Auburn travels to the SEC Championship with an 11-1 overall record. That record marks the program’s best regular season finish in the modern scoring era.
The Tigers at the SEC Meet
This year marks the fourth edition of the Southeastern Conference Championship. The Tigers garnered runner-up honors in 2013 with the meet being held in Auburn.
Prior to the SEC sponsorship of equestrian, Auburn, Georgia and South Carolina contested the Southern Equestrian Championships from 2003-2012. Auburn captured three titles, coming in 2004, 2010 and 2011.
SEC Regular Season
The top-ranked Tigers finished the SEC regular season with a 5-1 overall record, facing the three other conference foes twice.
Highlighting the season was the team’s two victories over rival Georgia. Hosting the then-No. 1 Bulldogs, Nov. 13, Auburn came away with an 11-8 upset over Georgia. The team then traveled to Bishop, Ga., Feb. 13, and earned 12-8 win on the road over No. 2 Georgia.
Auburn closed out its conference slate with a tiebreak win over Texas A&M at home, March 5. Tied at 10-10 at the end of the meet, the Tigers topped the Aggies with a 1602 tiebreak score. Auburn’s lone loss of the season came in College Station, Nov. 6. The Aggies edged Auburn, 11-8.
Auburn opened its SEC slate at South Carolina, Oct. 9, and defeated the Gamecocks, 14-6. The Tigers hosted SC in Auburn, Feb. 27, and bested the visitors, 15-5.
In the Record Books
Four members of this year’s senior class have placed themselves among Auburn’s best in their careers. Elizabeth Benson, Griffin Knight, Hannah Loseke and Hailey Munger have all found themselves on some of the program’s top career lists.
Benson is the winningest Hunt Seat rider in Auburn history, holding the team’s career wins records in both Flat (41) and Fences (50). In addition to her record number of victories, she has also competed in the most meets in both events – Fences (60) and Flat (59).
The Western trio of Knight, Loseke and Munger have put their names with some of Auburn’s top riders in the discipline. Munger has competed in program-record 52 Reining competitions for the Tigers. Knight has been in the Horsemanship lineup 60 times in her career, also a program high. In addition, Knight’s 34 career wins in Horsemanship is tied for the most in program history and her 11 wins this year is the most by any Tiger in a single season.
Loseke is also among the top Horsemanship riders in program history, finding herself in the top 10 in meets competed (37) and wins (19).
Up Next
Postseason continues as Auburn looks to capture its fourth National Collegiate Equestrian Association (NCEA) national title, April 14-16, in Waco, Texas.
