Trista Adkins enters her fifth season (2017-18) as the western coach for the SMU mustangs.
In her fourth season with the Mustangs (2016-17), Adkins helped lead the Mustangs to a 7-7 overall record, including a 4-1 conference mark. The Mustangs finished the regular-season tied for first, before earning runner-up honors at the UEC Championship. After wins at then-No. 3 TCU and against then-No. 9 Oklahoma State to open the season, SMU earned its highest ranking in program history being ranked No. 4 in the National Collegiate Equestrian Association (NCEA) poll. SMU boasted four NCEA All-America honorees, including Keagan Snively who is the first western rider to earn an NCEA All-America honor. The western program finished the season with a 5-7-2 combined record. The horsemanship corp. finished with a 7-6-1 record. Keagan Snively recorded a 10-4 record in reining with a team high five Most Outstanding Player award.
In her third season at the helm of the western team, the Mustangs tallied a 6-9-2 record, including a three-meet win streak. During the win streak, SMU knocked off powerhouses, then No. 2 Auburn and No. 6 South Carolina, along with South Dakota State. During the postseason, recorded a 2-1-1 record, including a win over the defending NCEA Champions and seventh-seed South Carolina. Under the instruction of Adkins, Jaclyn White and Michaela Dinger both earned United Equestrian Conference Riders of the Month for March. Madison Steed also earned accolades, earning the UEC Reining Freshman of the Year award.
In 2014, western riders posted a 3-9-3 record, including an impressive 5-3 victory over New Mexico State at the United Equestrian Conference Championships.
In 2013, Adkins was signed as the first western coach in program history and led the western riders to its first discipline win on Sept. 29, 2013 against UT-Martin. The western team won the discipline 5-3 and helped the team roll over the Skyhawks, 13-4.
Adkins most recently, in the college ranks, spent five years as an assistant coach with Baylor’s program, also focusing her efforts on the team’s western riders. At Baylor, Adkins helped lead the program to the 2006 National Championships, the only first-year western program to earn an invitation that year. The Mustangs will look to repeat that this spring, as the program starts its western program in 2013-14.
The third-year Mustang led the Lady Bears to a fifth-place finish at the Championship in 2007, an eighth-place finish in 2008 and a seventh-place finish in 2009. Adkins and the Bears also won the program’s first Big 12 title in her final year with the squad in 2010.
Prior to her time in Waco, the Oklahoma State alumna spent two seasons as an assistant coach with the western riders at Fresno State, a program that went undefeated against Regional competition in her two years at the helm. Under her direction, the Bulldogs won the 2004 IHSA reserve national title and the 2005 Varsity Equestrian National Championship reserve title. Adkins also guided four of her riders to individual national championships.
Adkins also spent a season at Ohio State following her career at Oklahoma State (2001). As a rider with the Cowboys’ program, Adkins helped lead the team to a national championship, in addition to claiming the 2001 Alumni Western Horsemanship title at the IHSA National Championships. Adkins also spent time coaching overseas, teaching Western Horsemanship in Denmark.
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