WACO, Texas – Coming off a pair of impressive performances in its home-opening meets of the season, the University of Tennessee at Martin held its place in today’s National Collegiate Equestrian Association top-10 rankings.
The Skyhawks were slotted 10th for the fourth consecutive week to start the 2023-24 campaign. Only two positions changed from last week as TCU remained No. 1 and was followed by No. 2 Auburn, No. 3 SMU, No. 4 Texas A&M and No. 5 Oklahoma State. No. 6 Georgia and No. 7 South Carolina flipped spots while No. 8 Baylor, No. 9 UC Davis and No. 10 UT Martin remained in the same order.
Last week, the Skyhawks outscored the opposition by a 26-14 margin – defeating Eastern College Athletic Conference foe South Dakota State (15-5) on Thursday before narrowly falling 11-9 to No. 2 Auburn on the following day.
Four different UT Martin riders combined for five wins last week in fences as the Skyhawks managed an 80.3 scoring average and one MOP in the event. The story was much of the same in flat as five separate UT Martin representatives posted six victories, one MOP and an average score of 82.1 points.
The Skyhawks found their most success in horsemanship last week as all five members of the lineup combined for seven victories and a MOP honoree in each meet. As a team, UT Martin combined for 72.6 points per ride.
It was another team effort in reining as all five Skyhawks earned at least one win last week. Seven of UT Martin’s 10 rides garnered at least a score of 69 points from the judges, including one MOP ride.
The Skyhawks continue their preparations for two more nationally ranked squads to visit the Ned McWherter Agricultural Complex next week as UT Martin will host No. 1 TCU on Friday, Oct. 27 and No. 6 Georgia on Saturday, Oct. 28.
