April 3, 2007

CANYON, Texas - In its home arena on Saturday, the West Texas A&M equestrian team used the advantage to help itself advance to the national championship show in May. As a team the Lady Buffs had five first place riders, two individual champions and a reserve champion.

Taking home first place honors on the team side of the show were Whitney Fouts in the Open Fences and Courtney Douglas in Novice Fences. Fouts, Douglas and Katie Sorenson all received first in the Open Flat, Novice Flat and Walk Trot events respectively.

Also helping the team go on to nationals was Catherine Brown, who was a second place rider in both the Intermediate Fences and Flat Show. Laura Wilder, meanwhile, took home the second spot in the Walk Trot Canter event.

Individually for the Lady Buffs, both Catherine Brown and Stephanie James were Zone 7 Champions. Brown won in the Novice Fences, while James took home the top spot in the Walk Trot Canter Show. Whitney Douglas was a Zone 7 Reserve Champion in the Open Flat Event.

WTAMU will take part in the three day national championship in Springfield, Mass., on May 3-6th. This will be the first time in school history that WTAMU has taken a Hunter Team to nationals.