USC opens season with 11 freshmen
Last season, the South Carolina equestrian team won six matches in a row to capture the school’s first ever Southern Equestrian championship.
This year, the team will look to win its first ever SEC title.
In June, the league announced that it would add equestrian as its 21st recognized sport.
Head coach Boo Major is excited about the new era and said the addition of Texas A&M, a prominent equestrian school, to the SEC in other sports was one of the main reasons equestrian was recognized.
“It’s huge for the sport of equestrian,” Major said. “(SEC) commissioner (Mike) Slive, I think, was looking at the need to add another sport to the SEC and I think that he picked a good one with equestrian.”
Major also said there most likely won’t be any visible changes now that the sport is recognized, but is happy for the support provided by the league.
As for the team itself, Major added 11 freshmen to the roster for 2012 from all over the country, including players from New York, California and Illinois, among others. Major, who is entering her 15th year as coach of the Gamecocks, said it is very important to get out-of-state talent, considering what she said was a relative lack of equestrian talent in South Carolina.
“Our team has always been that way and it is a great thing to have because I think our team really is a melting pot, since we have a lot of kids from all over the country,” Major said. “It’s not just one area. We have some good riders from South Carolina, (but) we don’t have a lot of good riders from South Carolina, recruiting-wise.”
Major said the freshmen have impressed so far, but says it is a “wait-and-see” process as to whether they compete because many of the players are still participating in outside events.
“We probably won’t see as many freshmen compete this fall as we’d like,” Major said. “Sally Henry has been a nice surprise for us. She has come in and it seems like she is going to make a pretty immediate impact on the Hunt Seat side. I think we’re still feeling our way through with the freshmen on the Western side.”
While Major gets to know the new Gamecocks, who are ranked No. 4 in the preseason poll, she does return a lot of talent from last year’s team with junior Johnna Letchworth, senior Kimberly McCormack and sophomore Katherine Schmidt, who was named AgSouth Female Athlete of the Year in 2011.
Major said that the upperclassmen have been great leaders and mentors to the freshmen so far in practice.
“That just helps a lot when you have some girls that are on the horses that know the horses really well,” Major said. “Katherine Schmidt is another one that is really going to help this year. Last year as a freshman, I’m sure she didn’t feel comfortable being able to give advice and tell people to try this or try that. I think she is going to be a lot more comfortable in that role this year.”
As for the expectations for the 2012 campaign, Major said she always has lofty goals for her team at the beginning of the season. This year, Major wants the team to treat each match like it is a national championship. After last season’s unpredictable run to the Southern Championship, she believes her team is capable of winning it all.
USC kicks off its season Sept. 29 at home against No. 5 Oklahoma State.