University of Georgia Athletics
Bulldogs Brought Their Best To Win Latest Title
April 24, 2025 | Equestrian, The Frierson Files
By John Frierson
Staff Writer
The night before the National Collegiate Equestrian Association championship finals last Saturday in Ocala, Fla., Georgia coach Meghan Boenig and former Bulldog star Carly Anthony were inducted into the NCEA Hall of Fame. Along with Boenig's current squad, which was set to take on top-seeded SMU with a title on the line the next day, a large group of former Georgia riders and supporters were there to celebrate the program's architect, heart and soul.
There would be even more to celebrate the next day at the World Equestrian Center, where the seventh-seeded Bulldogs completed a magical spring ride to the program's eighth national championship with a 12-8 victory over the Mustangs.
"In some ways I don't feel surprised, just because the foot has been on the gas" the whole tournament, Boenig said in the post-meet news conference.
Sitting in her office at the UGA Equestrian Complex in Bishop on Wednesday morning, having had a few days to digest the season, the march to another championship and this special team, Boenig was still beaming.
"It's still so much gratitude and appreciation," she said. "You get delayed doing things because you open up social media, your texts or your email, and you just stop and relive it all again. ... I think the vibe of optimism and support that really embodied these last couple of weeks has trickled into every aspect, and it feels so special."
Championships are nothing new for Boenig and her program. The overflowing trophy-display space near the front doors of the team facility demonstrates that, and the 2025 NCEA national championship trophy is now front and center. Winning this title, Georgia's first since 2021, "is a continuation of a legacy," Boenig said after the meet.
"It means a celebration of the hard work. It means the realization of everything we went out and set to do, and really, truly believed it may happen," she said.
In the Bulldogs' first season of competition, 2003, Georgia won it all. Seven more have followed, all of them special and all of them different. With national championships in 2003, '04, '08, '09, '10, '14, '21 and now 2025, not too many riders have come through Georgia's program without winning at least one national championship.
Equestrian's eight national championships trail only the 10 won by Georgia's gymnastics program. The top-ranked women's tennis team, already the winners of the ITA National Indoor Championships earlier this year, can tie equestrian with eight national titles if it wins the NCAAs next month.
Boenig, seated next to seniors Catalina Peralta and Jordan Davis after the meet Saturday, added that it means "we get to see these Dawgs again" during the ring design process. The seniors will gather next week to start figuring out what they want their national championship rings to look like.
On a desk in the equestrian offices Wednesday rested the seven previous championship rings the Bulldogs have earned and designed. Some were really big, like the ones football players got after winning the national championship in 2021 and '22, and others were more subtle and suitable to everyday wear. Whatever they decide, these Bulldogs have earned the ring and the championship.
The No. 2 seed in the SEC Championships late last month, Georgia fell to third-seeded Texas A&M, 10-9, in the semifinals. It wasn't the result the Bulldogs wanted, but it was only a speed bump on their road to the national championships.
"Even after that loss, I think all of us just took a breath and were like, Bring it," Boening said Wednesday.
Georgia would have to bring it to win the NCEAs. Up first was No. 2-seeded Auburn, and the Bulldogs thumped the Tigers 13-4. After that was a rematch with A&M, and Georgia dominated in a 16-4 win. Then came the top-ranked Mustangs.
It would take a lot of season- or career-best rides for Georgia to prevail, and that's exactly what the Bulldogs produced in their 12-8 win. Davis, Kennedy Buchanan and Abbey Zawisza earned career-high scores on their rides, while Peralta and Cadence Eger all posted season-highs in the biggest and final meet of the season.
Davis, a senior Horsemanship rider, was atop Charlie, an LSU horse that she had not only ridden before, but had posted her previous career-best while riding.
"It was a really special full-circle moment, to get to ride him again today. ... I don't think I've ever been happier with a ride," she said after the meet.
For Peralta, a senior Jump Seat rider, the national championship was "four years in the making," she said.
"We have come to this championship three years before and not made it past the first round, and this year proved that that doesn't matter. Anybody can win it," she said. "We were ranked No. 7, we upset, upset, upset, and kept doing it all the way to the end.
"I think that just goes to show the belief this team had in each other. And it just goes to show that everything we've been working toward mattered. And everything we've been working toward counted. I wouldn't have wanted to do it with any other set of girls."
The Georgia equestrian legacy continues.
Staff Writer
The night before the National Collegiate Equestrian Association championship finals last Saturday in Ocala, Fla., Georgia coach Meghan Boenig and former Bulldog star Carly Anthony were inducted into the NCEA Hall of Fame. Along with Boenig's current squad, which was set to take on top-seeded SMU with a title on the line the next day, a large group of former Georgia riders and supporters were there to celebrate the program's architect, heart and soul.
There would be even more to celebrate the next day at the World Equestrian Center, where the seventh-seeded Bulldogs completed a magical spring ride to the program's eighth national championship with a 12-8 victory over the Mustangs.
"In some ways I don't feel surprised, just because the foot has been on the gas" the whole tournament, Boenig said in the post-meet news conference.
Sitting in her office at the UGA Equestrian Complex in Bishop on Wednesday morning, having had a few days to digest the season, the march to another championship and this special team, Boenig was still beaming.
"It's still so much gratitude and appreciation," she said. "You get delayed doing things because you open up social media, your texts or your email, and you just stop and relive it all again. ... I think the vibe of optimism and support that really embodied these last couple of weeks has trickled into every aspect, and it feels so special."
Championships are nothing new for Boenig and her program. The overflowing trophy-display space near the front doors of the team facility demonstrates that, and the 2025 NCEA national championship trophy is now front and center. Winning this title, Georgia's first since 2021, "is a continuation of a legacy," Boenig said after the meet.
"It means a celebration of the hard work. It means the realization of everything we went out and set to do, and really, truly believed it may happen," she said.
In the Bulldogs' first season of competition, 2003, Georgia won it all. Seven more have followed, all of them special and all of them different. With national championships in 2003, '04, '08, '09, '10, '14, '21 and now 2025, not too many riders have come through Georgia's program without winning at least one national championship.
Equestrian's eight national championships trail only the 10 won by Georgia's gymnastics program. The top-ranked women's tennis team, already the winners of the ITA National Indoor Championships earlier this year, can tie equestrian with eight national titles if it wins the NCAAs next month.
Boenig, seated next to seniors Catalina Peralta and Jordan Davis after the meet Saturday, added that it means "we get to see these Dawgs again" during the ring design process. The seniors will gather next week to start figuring out what they want their national championship rings to look like.
On a desk in the equestrian offices Wednesday rested the seven previous championship rings the Bulldogs have earned and designed. Some were really big, like the ones football players got after winning the national championship in 2021 and '22, and others were more subtle and suitable to everyday wear. Whatever they decide, these Bulldogs have earned the ring and the championship.
The No. 2 seed in the SEC Championships late last month, Georgia fell to third-seeded Texas A&M, 10-9, in the semifinals. It wasn't the result the Bulldogs wanted, but it was only a speed bump on their road to the national championships.
"Even after that loss, I think all of us just took a breath and were like, Bring it," Boening said Wednesday.
Georgia would have to bring it to win the NCEAs. Up first was No. 2-seeded Auburn, and the Bulldogs thumped the Tigers 13-4. After that was a rematch with A&M, and Georgia dominated in a 16-4 win. Then came the top-ranked Mustangs.
It would take a lot of season- or career-best rides for Georgia to prevail, and that's exactly what the Bulldogs produced in their 12-8 win. Davis, Kennedy Buchanan and Abbey Zawisza earned career-high scores on their rides, while Peralta and Cadence Eger all posted season-highs in the biggest and final meet of the season.
Davis, a senior Horsemanship rider, was atop Charlie, an LSU horse that she had not only ridden before, but had posted her previous career-best while riding.
"It was a really special full-circle moment, to get to ride him again today. ... I don't think I've ever been happier with a ride," she said after the meet.
For Peralta, a senior Jump Seat rider, the national championship was "four years in the making," she said.
"We have come to this championship three years before and not made it past the first round, and this year proved that that doesn't matter. Anybody can win it," she said. "We were ranked No. 7, we upset, upset, upset, and kept doing it all the way to the end.
"I think that just goes to show the belief this team had in each other. And it just goes to show that everything we've been working toward mattered. And everything we've been working toward counted. I wouldn't have wanted to do it with any other set of girls."
The Georgia equestrian legacy continues.
Assistant Sports Communications Director John Frierson is the staff writer for the UGA Athletic Association and curator of the ITA Men's Tennis Hall of Fame. You can find his work at: Frierson Files.
Players Mentioned
Western
/ Equestrian
Western
/ Equestrian
Western
/ Equestrian
Jumping Seat
/ Equestrian
Western
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