FINAL SCORESHEET

HARRINGTON, Del. (SMU) - No. 1-seed SMU claimed its fourth straight conference championship, and second ECAC title, after taking down No. 2-seed UT Martin, 11-9, on Saturday afternoon at Quillen Arena.

"We had to fight hard this weekend to win and this team really stepped up and did that," head coach Carol Gwin said. "When things got tight, they dug deep and got the trophy. Shout out to Coach Brad Kearns and Coach Laura Persons for having the team prepared. Now we prep for National Championships!"

Three Mustangs (10-6, 4-1 ECAC) were named Most Outstanding Performers (MOP) in the victory over the Skyhawks (8-8, 7-2 ECAC). The win kept SMU the sole victors of the ECAC after the Mustangs also claimed the title during 2021's inaugural Equestrian championship.

After starting the day's action with a 3-2 loss in Fences to UT Martin, SMU claimed a 5-0 win in Horsemanship. Junior Alex Pielet and sophomore Taylor Madden won the two Mustang Fences points with scores of 140 and 164, respectively.

Sophomore Nya Kearns led the way in Horsemanship with an event-high scored of 159, which earned her the MOP honor. Senior Megan Waldron won the event's first point with a 145 while senior Payton Neiberger defeated her opponent 156-153, junior Lily Anderson won 153.5-144.5 and senior Mallory Vroegh completed with sweep with a 153.

With a 7-3 lead at the halfway mark, SMU added two more points in the Flat event coming out of the break. Graduate student Madi Johnson was named the event's MOP after posting a score of 161. Junior Miranda Seade was close behind with a 160.5 to win the second Mustang point.

The Skyhawks claimed the first two points of Reining to come within a 9-8 overall score before the MOP-winning sophomore, Chalyce Head, defeated her opponent 146-139.5. Junior Taylor Zimmerman clinched the event's final point with a score of 147 to push the Mustangs ahead for the second-straight ECAC title.

SMU now awaits its seeding for the NCEA National Championship, which will take place April 14-16 in Ocala, Florida. The Mustangs finished 2021 as the Reserve National Champions after advacing to Championship Day for the first time in program history.