March 29, 2008

CANYON, Texas -The WT Equestrian Western Team was extremely confident this past weekend going into the Western Semi-Final Championships which was hosted by WT. The top teams in the country came to Canyon to compete and the Lady Buffs didn't disappoint. The Western Team was competing at semi-finals in addition to eight individual riders.

On Saturday preliminary heats for the individual classes were held and 6 of the 8 individual riders advanced to the finals:

In the Reining:

Shannon Lee

Whitney Agee

Open Horsemanship:

Whitney Fouts

Advanced Horsemanship:

Errolynne Franck

Novice Horsemanship:

Josie Norwood

Beginner Horsemanship:

Amanda Hes

On Sunday the Team competition and the individual finals were held.  The top 4 riders in each individual class advanced to the National Championships in Los Angeles, CA May 8-11.

Individual Reining:

Res. Champion- Whitney Agee

7th Place- Shannon Lee

Individual Open Horsemanship:

3rd Place- Whitney Fouts

Individual Advanced Horsemanship:

3rd Place- Errolynne Franck

Individual Novice Horsemanship:

8th Place- Josie Norwood

Individual Beginner Horsemanship:

5th Place- Amanda Hes

In the Team competition, the top 3 out of 7 teams advanced on to Nationals and the Lady Buffs did just that.  The Champion team, University of Findlay, was last year's national champion team, and was challenging competition.  The Lady Buffs were the Res. Champ. Team and are ready to head to LA with confidence.  The placings from the team classes were as follows;

Reining:

3rd Place-Whitney Agee

Open Horsemanship:

Champion- Errolynne Franck

Advanced Horsemanship:

3rd Place- Ryan Eberlein

Novice Horsemanship:

5th Place- Stephanie Hallgren

Intermediate Horsemanship:

4th Place- Rebecca Hart

Beginner Horsemanship:

Res. Champion- Rachel Hilton