Gamecocks sweep all four MVP’s
Before the start of the season, equestrian coach Boo Major said her team was facing a little bit of an unknown after losing several key starters from last season’s team.
On Friday, her team put any questions to rest when they dominated No. 5 Kansas State 15-5 in the season opener for both teams.
“It told me a lot,” Major said. “They have a whole lot of character and they were able to maintain the focus. A lot of times, we get ahead and they think, ‘OK, now we can kind of skate to the end,’ but they kept the hammer down the whole time.”
No. 3 South Carolina was in control from the start, opening things up with a 4-1 win in Reining. The Gamecocks quickly extended that lead to 8-2, before the Western team kept things going with a 7-3 victory over the Wildcats.
“We came out swinging this first meet,” said junior reiner Layla Choate, who captured a MVP for her win Friday. “We really had a minimal amount of mistakes and it really gave us confidence knowing that if we can start out this strong, there is no telling what we can do for the rest of the season.”
The Gamecocks swept all four MVPs Friday. Junior Katherine Schmidt, senior Johnna Letchworth and sophomore Alexa Anthony won the other three MVPs for their performances.
Major said she was particularly proud of Anthony’s first career MVP because the coaching staff has been trying to figure out a way to get her into the competition because she is “someone who really works hard.”
Major said the performance was a good measuring stick to gauge where the Gamecocks are at the start of the season.
It wasn’t only the riders in the arena that were responsible for the win. Major gave credit to the teammates that didn’t ride against Kansas State who helped warm up the horses and set up things before the events even started.
“We were pretty shorthanded this past weekend because we have a few injured people that couldn’t ride, so we had a lot of people riding a lot of horses,” Major said. “They also had to help set up the arena and they’re doing a whole lot more than sitting around cheering.”
South Carolina is in the unique position of having no freshmen in the starting lineup, while still dealing with inexperience because some of the starters this season are players who have been in the program but haven’t had a lot of experience in official NCAA competition.
Major said she challenged her team to come out and perform like she knew they could.
“They all knew what was coming,” Major said. “We asked them to step up and really show us they were here to compete and win, and they really did that. They did it all the way around.”
Friday’s victory over Kansas State was the first Gamecock victory over the Wildcats in five years, making the performance even more special for Choate and her teammates.
South Carolina lost to Kansas State, 14-6, last season in Kansas.
“We were really hungry for it,” Choate said. “When we traveled to Kansas last year, we got it handed to us. I guess we wanted to return the favor.”
Despite the big win, Major is trying to tell her team to not stop at one win.
“We have challenged them to keep it up,” Major said. “If they can keep it up and ride like they did this past weekend, they’re going to be pretty successful against anybody.”