University of Georgia Athletics
Equestrian Takes SEC Crown
April 09, 2005 | Equestrian
April 9, 2005
BLYTHEWOOD, S.C. --- The undefeated Georgia equestrian team rode to victory with a tally of 987 points at the 2005 Southern Equestrian Championships, fending off a strong upset bid from host South Carolina with 971.625 points. Defending SEC champion Auburn finished in third with 791.5 points at the meet contested at the Gamecocks home facility, One Wood Farm.
The Bulldog Western riders were the heroes of the day, flattening the competition with a final tally of 547.35 to South Carolina's 504.125 and Auburn's 420.5. Georgia's English riders finished second in the discipline with 440.5 points behind the Gamecocks' 467.5, but ahead of Auburn's 435.
"It was a hard day to get started," Georgia head coach Meghan Boenig said. "I was frustrated on the English side and we feel like we owe everybody on the Western side for our dinner tonight. This gives us a couple of things to work on before nationals."
Georgia's Western riders opened the meet with a 308.6 point onslaught in horsemanship, easily outdistancing Auburn (285.5) and South Carolina (265).
Freshman phenom Dana Kennedy, who led Georgia with an 11.1 average margin of victory in horsemanship during the regular season, posted the high score and the highest victory margin on the event with an 84, 9.5 points better than her closest competitor.
"She had to lead off for us and she didn't have a terrific warm-up," associate head coach Beth Bass said. "But she pulled it together mentally and got it done for us as she always does."
Senior Carly Veldman also impressed with an 81.6, defeating Katelen Ream of Auburn (73.5) and Rachel Sternoff of South Carolina (70) while riding Newman. Veldman suffered her only horsemanship loss of the regular season competing against Sternoff on Newman at an earlier meet in Blythewood. Junior Kari Ellingson added an 81 for the Bulldogs.
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