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Equestrian team takes shape at SDSU
Getting riders, 'equipment that eats' the focus in preparing for fall debut
Chris Solari
csolari@argusleader.com
published: 04/7/05
EQUESTRIAN TIMELINE
august 2003: SDSU officially announces that it will move to Division I. Athletic Director Fred Oien mentions equestrian as a possible addition to help comply with federal Title IX regulations.
april 2004: School announces that equestrian will become the Jackrabbits' 21st varsity sport.
sept. 1, 2004: School announces that Megan McGee will become the Jackrabbits' first equestrian coach. She served as an adviser to the school in the sport's planning stages.
Megan McGee headed to California last week on a recruiting trip, looking for the best of the best to join her team at South Dakota State.
She judged their agility, their size, their speed, their ... manes?
McGee was looking for horses for the SDSU equestrian program, which begins competition in the fall.
With less than six months until practice officially kicks off for the school's equine experiment, McGee is wrapping up her initial preparation. She has been putting the finishing touches on her initial recruiting class and said riders around the Midwest and the rest of the country have been contacting her.
SDSU plans to have approxiimately 25 riders this year, then increase toward a target goal of 60 by 2009-10. The newest Jackrabbit team, officially added last spring, will begin with five scholarships and work toward 15 by the '09-10 school year.
"We have had so much interest, we could get pretty close to that number right now if we had the horses and the facilities," said McGee, who also began the equestrian program at Fresno State in 1996. "It goes to show the level of interest and commitment of a lot of these young women who have been involved with horses. I've been surprised to find the number of riders from out of the area who want to be in a program like this."
Equestrian competition is not horse racing or rodeo. With a variety of jumps and related moves in managing a horse, it's a sport that rewards fluid motion in moving from a walk to a trot and a canter. Competitors are judged more on their mastery of traditional riding skills instead of speed.
Sarah Patrick, the head of the Dakota Dressage and Eventing group in Sioux Falls, said the state's horse riders and afficionados are enthralled with SDSU's venture, volunteering their training and donating items to the program.
Patrick said McGee evaluated some of the group's high school-aged riders at the South Dakota Horse Fair in March at the W.H. Lyon Fairgrounds Expo Building.
"The kids I know are very excited. They were chatting at the rail around the horse arena that, 'Coach was watching me, and I think she saw us do well on our horses,' " Patrick said. "You could just see their anticipation was so high. This is really making them consider SDSU."
SDSU is currently leasing the Pegasus Equine Center in Brookings and getting it prepared for competition. Athletic Director Fred Oien said the long-range plan is to build an indoor riding arena with additional stables and support facilities on property owned by the SDSU Foundation to go hand-in-hand with the school's equine management program.
McGee believes the new facilities will be needed as the program grows.
Oien said the equestrian team should turn out to be a "perfect fit" for SDSU to come in line with federal Title IX compliance.
"As long as five years ago, we brought in some of the top riding people in the state," Oien said. "It was clear to us that these people really had a need for the young women in their programs to continue riding in college."
McGee said many young equestrian athletes sell their horses when they go off to college, almost a rite of passage in the sport.
"To have the opportunity to ride and compete while going to college is the best of both worlds," she said. "A lot of them are reluctant to go to college because they will be giving up something they dedicated a big part of their lives to."
The majority of interested athletes, McGee said, are either in the Dakotas or surrounding states like Minnesota, Nebraska, Iowa, Wyoming and Montana. The first batch of recruits will be announced next Wednesday.
And then there are the horses - or as McGee calls them, "equipment that eats."
McGee said the program will start with about 15 horses in the fall that will be used by riders and in home competitions per NCAA rules. She added that a dozen incoming riders will also bring their own horses.
McGee was astonished with how many horses were donated or loaned to the program.
"We're getting to be almost set, but I never want to say I'll turn down the next Olympic hopeful horse someone wants to send our way," McGee said. "But to get the support of the horse community and (SDSU) alumni, that's come through faster than I had imagined."
Reach Chris Solari at 977-3923.
Equestrian team takes shape at SDSU
Getting riders, 'equipment that eats' the focus in preparing for fall debut
Chris Solari
csolari@argusleader.com
published: 04/7/05
EQUESTRIAN TIMELINE
august 2003: SDSU officially announces that it will move to Division I. Athletic Director Fred Oien mentions equestrian as a possible addition to help comply with federal Title IX regulations.
april 2004: School announces that equestrian will become the Jackrabbits' 21st varsity sport.
sept. 1, 2004: School announces that Megan McGee will become the Jackrabbits' first equestrian coach. She served as an adviser to the school in the sport's planning stages.
Megan McGee headed to California last week on a recruiting trip, looking for the best of the best to join her team at South Dakota State.
She judged their agility, their size, their speed, their ... manes?
McGee was looking for horses for the SDSU equestrian program, which begins competition in the fall.
With less than six months until practice officially kicks off for the school's equine experiment, McGee is wrapping up her initial preparation. She has been putting the finishing touches on her initial recruiting class and said riders around the Midwest and the rest of the country have been contacting her.
SDSU plans to have approxiimately 25 riders this year, then increase toward a target goal of 60 by 2009-10. The newest Jackrabbit team, officially added last spring, will begin with five scholarships and work toward 15 by the '09-10 school year.
"We have had so much interest, we could get pretty close to that number right now if we had the horses and the facilities," said McGee, who also began the equestrian program at Fresno State in 1996. "It goes to show the level of interest and commitment of a lot of these young women who have been involved with horses. I've been surprised to find the number of riders from out of the area who want to be in a program like this."
Equestrian competition is not horse racing or rodeo. With a variety of jumps and related moves in managing a horse, it's a sport that rewards fluid motion in moving from a walk to a trot and a canter. Competitors are judged more on their mastery of traditional riding skills instead of speed.
Sarah Patrick, the head of the Dakota Dressage and Eventing group in Sioux Falls, said the state's horse riders and afficionados are enthralled with SDSU's venture, volunteering their training and donating items to the program.
Patrick said McGee evaluated some of the group's high school-aged riders at the South Dakota Horse Fair in March at the W.H. Lyon Fairgrounds Expo Building.
"The kids I know are very excited. They were chatting at the rail around the horse arena that, 'Coach was watching me, and I think she saw us do well on our horses,' " Patrick said. "You could just see their anticipation was so high. This is really making them consider SDSU."
SDSU is currently leasing the Pegasus Equine Center in Brookings and getting it prepared for competition. Athletic Director Fred Oien said the long-range plan is to build an indoor riding arena with additional stables and support facilities on property owned by the SDSU Foundation to go hand-in-hand with the school's equine management program.
McGee believes the new facilities will be needed as the program grows.
Oien said the equestrian team should turn out to be a "perfect fit" for SDSU to come in line with federal Title IX compliance.
"As long as five years ago, we brought in some of the top riding people in the state," Oien said. "It was clear to us that these people really had a need for the young women in their programs to continue riding in college."
McGee said many young equestrian athletes sell their horses when they go off to college, almost a rite of passage in the sport.
"To have the opportunity to ride and compete while going to college is the best of both worlds," she said. "A lot of them are reluctant to go to college because they will be giving up something they dedicated a big part of their lives to."
The majority of interested athletes, McGee said, are either in the Dakotas or surrounding states like Minnesota, Nebraska, Iowa, Wyoming and Montana. The first batch of recruits will be announced next Wednesday.
And then there are the horses - or as McGee calls them, "equipment that eats."
McGee said the program will start with about 15 horses in the fall that will be used by riders and in home competitions per NCAA rules. She added that a dozen incoming riders will also bring their own horses.
McGee was astonished with how many horses were donated or loaned to the program.
"We're getting to be almost set, but I never want to say I'll turn down the next Olympic hopeful horse someone wants to send our way," McGee said. "But to get the support of the horse community and (SDSU) alumni, that's come through faster than I had imagined."
Reach Chris Solari at 977-3923.
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