SEC Announces Annual Equestrian Awards
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (April 12, 2022)-- The Southeastern Conference has announced its 2022 Equestrian awards, recognizing standout performances throughout the past season. The awards were voted on by the league's four head coaches.
Five athletes per event are selected for the All-SEC Team and SEC All-Freshman Team (where there were enough nominees), while ties were not broken.
The 2022 All-SEC teams are listed below:
Scholar-Athlete of the Year: Sloane Vogt, South Carolina
Major: Public Health
Undergraduate Cumulative GPA: 3.912
- Has competed in all 11 meets this season. She rides in both the horsemanship and reining.
- Is tied sixth in the record book for number of MOPs in a season for reining with 3 in the 2020-21 season
- Had the most reining wins in the 2020-21 season with six All-SEC honors: 2019 SEC All-Freshman Team (set a school record of seven riders named to the team), 2020-21 All-SEC Team member Earned First-Team NCEA All-America honors in reining - was the fourth Gamecock in school history to earn the honor
- Monthly honors include: 2020 SEC Rider of the Fall, NCEA Rider of the month November 2020 in reining, SEC Rider of the Month March 2021in reining, NCEA Standout Student Athlete of the Month in February 2022.
- Earned one MOP in her senior season in the horsemanship in the fall meet against Texas A&M with a 77.5 which tied the highest score in the event this season
Coach of the Year: Greg Williams, Auburn
- The Auburn equestrian team captured its fourth-straight Southeastern Conference title in 2022. The championship win is the team's fifth in the SEC (2016, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022) and eighth overall. Their previous three conference crowns came from the Southern Equestrian Conference (2004, 2010, 2011). The win was the team's first SEC championship win in front of the Auburn crowd after also hosting the championship in 2013 and 2017.
Equitation Over Fences Rider of the Year: Emma Kurtz, Auburn
Equitation on the Flat Rider of the Year: Jordan Toering, Georgia
Horsemanship Rider of the Year: Taylor Searles, Auburn
Reining Rider of the Year: Caitlin Lyons, Georgia
Freshman Equitation Over Fences Rider of the Year: Sophee Steckbeck, Auburn
Freshman Equitation on the Flat Rider of the Year: Sophee Steckbeck, Auburn
Freshman Horsemanship Rider of the Year: Jillian Stopperich, Georgia / Hanna Olaussen, Texas A&M
Freshman Reining Rider of the Year: Jax Bound, Georgia
All-SEC (Equitation Over Fences)
Ava Stearns, Auburn
Ellie Ferrigno, Auburn
Hayley Mairano, Georgia
Jordan Toering, Georgia
Emma Kurtz, Auburn
All-SEC (Equitation on the Flat)
Ava Stearns, Auburn
Ellie Ferrigno, Auburn
Trinity Hammerschmidt, South Carolina
Jordan Toering, Georgia
Maya Clarkson, South Carolina
Emma Kurtz, Auburn
Caroline Dance, Texas A&M
All-SEC (Horsemanship)
Taylor Searles, Auburn
MacKenzie Chapman, Texas A&M
Olivia Tordoff, Auburn
Jillian Stopperich, Georgia
Madison Parduhn, Auburn
Sara Lewis, Georgia
Hayley Riddle, Texas A&M
Hanna Olaussen, Texas A&M
All-SEC (Reining)
Taylor Searles, Auburn
Jax Bound, Georgia
Caitlin Lyons, Georgia
Emma Lane, South Carolina
Emmy-Lu Marsh, Texas A&M
Lisa Bricker, Texas A&M
All-Freshman (Fences)
Brooke Brombach, Texas A&M
Sophee Steckbeck, Auburn
Catalina Peralta, Georgia
Sophie Mitchell, South Carolina
All-Freshman (Flat)
Sophee Steckbeck, Auburn Sophie Mitchell, South Carolina
All-Freshman (Horsemanship)
Kendalynne Herlocker, South Carolina
Jillian Stopperich, Georgia
Tierney Horton, South Carolina
Hanna Olaussen, Texas A&M
All-Freshman (Reining)
Jax Bound, Georgia
Chloe VanStone, South Carolina
Isabella Hehr, Georgia
Community Service Team
Hannah Lemel, Auburn
Lemel has served the Auburn community well this year and was part of two big organizations in the area...First, she served with Project Uplift, a program that matches Auburn University students with children that are referred by their parents or teachers...She met with two kids once a week, acting as a mentor and friend...She spent a lot of time playing at parks, teaching life skills like making friends and also teaching them how to cook... Most recently, she helped plan an event that brought the children of Project Uplift to the equestrian facility for a chance to ride horses...Another organization she's a part of is Compassus Hospice Care... She does a variety of different tasks and provides companionship to a patient with dementia, sitting with him and talking with him for a couple hours a week... She also assists the organization with any administrative tasks... She has been involved in the preparation for the upcoming Camp Good Grief... As a volunteer, she'll be a part of a day of activities for kids that have lost a loved one from a terminal illness.
Katie Ray, Georgia
Clarke county mentor for 2018/19, 19/20 school year until covid happened (would go into the school once a week for an hour to mentor a child)...Participated in SWAB all 4 years, this past year I organized all 60+ of us to participate (collecting background checks, leading fundraising efforts, organizing the team)...Volunteer at the Butterfly dreams 5k all 4 years, also volunteer schooling ponies for them...Various homeless shelter activities (clothing drives, food drives, meal prep and delivery)...Member of Special Olympics club (attended various events including prom, social groups)...Participated in girl power day through athletics.
Michaela Schrim, South Carolina
Has given 114 hours of community service...Over 90 hours with Meals on Wheels packing meals to take to those in need in the Columbia area who were unable to secure food for themselves and relied on Meals on Wheels every day...Loved to help with the organization and built connections with individuals in the community that she would deliver to and work with...Participated in Families Helping Families to purchase gifts for a local family around the holidays... Helped pick out, wrap and deliver gifts...Volunteered at the humane society...Helped at the Range Fore Hope Golf Outing for Veterans to help players and carry their bags, learned about the needs for Veterans in South Carolina and the U.S....Also fostered a cat.
Caroline Dance, Texas A&M
November NCEA Standout Student-Athlete of the month...Spearheaded the AggiesCAN food drive which provided over 40,000 meals for the Brazos Valley. Duties included organizing department canned food collections, recruiting fellow student-athlete volunteers and serving as the liaison with the Brazos Valley Food Bank...SAAC Vice President of Selfless Service...Created "Sports Day Service Event" that allowed the Boys & Girls Club to visit our facilities and the purpose was to educate them on the importance of sports and how it can help develop leadership skills, instill discipline and promote a healthy lifestyle.