The Daily Gamecock

Equestrian to rely on veterans

Major and co. look to repeat as conference champions

Coming off of last season’s SEC championship, the South Carolina equestrian team is facing something of an unknown this season.

The Gamecocks lost two starters from last season’s Hunt Seat squad, including Kimberly McCormack, who won 17 rides last season. On the Western side of things, South Carolina lost three starters from last year’s Reining team.

But that doesn’t mean that coach Boo Major will be worried about her team when it starts its season Friday at home against Kansas State.

According to Major, this season is looking like it’ll be the first year that the Gamecocks do not send out a freshman to ride on Opening Day. That means that everyone who will be sent out against the Wildcats will have some experience in the program.

“I think everybody that is competing has competed before,” Major said. “So it’s not like we’re throwing someone out that has never actually competed. We’re really looking for those players that have been in the lineup to really step up and be leaders and show everybody how to get it done.”

Despite her team’s experience, Major said the staff was pretty comfortable with last season’s group, while this year’s squad has some new pieces to it.

The Gamecocks, who were ranked No. 3 in the preseason poll, will face off against a Kansas State team that is ranked No. 5. The Wildcats’ Western team made it to the finals of last season’s national championships before falling to Oklahoma State.

Despite the top-five rankings for both teams, Major isn’t worried about the rankings. Instead, she is focused on making sure her team stays focused.

“We’re just concentrating on getting the best performances that we can out of our student–athletes, and they are getting the best performances they can out of their horses,” Major said. “I think if we can do that, we’re going to be successful. We always preach about not making any mistakes.”

Senior Johnna Letchworth is one of the nine seniors on the team.

Letchworth has a 33-4-3 career record to go along with 14 career MVPs and was named the SEC Horsemanship Rider of the Year last season.

The Connecticut native says she is focused on helping her team win rather than racking up more personal awards.

“I told my team at one of our meetings at the beginning of the year that I just want us to keep winning, regardless of what awards I can win,” Letchworth said. “I just want to keep being successful for the team so as a whole, hopefully we can win SEC’s and a national championship.”

Both Letchworth and Major said that even though there will be no freshman in the starting lineup to begin the season, there will be plenty that will help out the team throughout the season.

And if the first group doesn’t perform, Major feels good about putting in the second group of riders.

“We feel like we’ve got a good group of folks that are waiting anxiously in the wings to step up,”

Major said. “So we’re pretty comfortable with the second group, and frankly, they’re ready to show; we just didn’t have enough room to put them in.”


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