Senior Angela Gebhart took high point honors on both days of the Intercollegiate Horse Show Association Western show held at the Swiftel Center in Brookings last weekend.

“It’s a great thing to have her (Gebhart) winning both classes in another outstanding performance,” head coach Joe Humphrey said.

Gebhart won her sections of open reining and open horsemanship Friday night. In the same two events, sophomore Jana Basler placed second in each, qualified her for reserve high point rider honors.

The first night also went well for the many riders on the SDSU equestrian team, as they earned seven first place finishes as well as two second place finishes.

“I was very happy. We had a lot of good individual performances,” Humphrey said.

Saturday, the team rode on to four first place finishes and a third place finish, which earned them reserve high point honors as a team. Also for the second straight day, the Jacks received a high point rider performance by Gebhart, while senior Britta Barta took reserve high point honors.

“It was a very good weekend. Inside and out, it was a very good compilation of performances, and the final results showed that,” Humphrey said.

The Jacks are closing in on the midpoint of their season, which can extend to the IHSA Nationals held in Lexington, Kentucky May 5-8. The team has already been to Alabama, South Carolina and Wisconsin for competition this season.

SDSU will be looking for Gebhart to continue to lead the team with top performances over the course of the season. The last fall event for the Jacks is an IHSA Western Show held in Fargo, North Dakota Nov. 13-14. The spring season begins in Fargo with an IHSA Western from Feb. 5-6.

This Friday and Saturday, the Jacks will be in Crookston, Minnesota for the IHSA Hunt Seat for two all-day events.

#1.1743570:2011016449.png:Ashley Marrin 11-03-2010 59:Senior Ashley Marrin competes on the flat in the huntseat division at an ISHA show last season. The team had four first place finishes Saturday, Oct. 30.:File Photo

New equestrian coach Joe Humphrey steps in after Megan McGee, former equestrian coach, accepted a job with the World Equestrian Games in August.

The Jacks lost five-year equestrian coach Megan McGee in August just before the season started.

It couldn’t have come at a worse time. How will the team fare this year?

Enter interim head coach Josh Humphrey and a host of assistant coaches along with a slue of talented riders. The Jacks are not looking back.

“It’s a setback to some degree when you lose a coach of her caliber, but we are moving forward.” Humphrey said. “The assistant coaches did an outstanding job in playing catch up with some issues.”

With the season well under way, the change of coaches has been a fairly simple one.

Humphrey has been with the team since its inaugural season in 2005 and is prime for the head-coaching job.

“He’s a familiar face and he’s done a great job. It made the transition easy,” junior Megan Schiferl said.

The Jacks are also looking forward to the entrance of the new English discipline coach Leigh Nichols, who arrives this week. Nichols was the head coach of Delaware State last year and will bring a boost to the team.

“We are all very excited to meet coach Nichols and to see how she can refresh the team,” Schiferl said.

The team (0-3) started out this season on the road against some tough competition in South Carolina, Kansas State and Auburn. These three schools won various events last year at the Varsity Nationals.

Last weeks event in South Carolina showed signs of progress.

“We competed successfully throughout the weekend and got better with each ride,” Humphrey said. Three Jacks riders took home MVP honors in South Carolina, not enough to obtain victory.

The schedule does not get any easier as they travel to River Falls, Wisconsin this weekend to compete in the IHSA Western event. The Jacks will take 14 riders in hopes of capturing their first victory of the season.

In addition to having 48 riders on the roster, the team also carries 40 horses in the stables. Luckily for the Jacks, coach Humphrey is a well-organized machine.

“Structure and organization is an important factor,” Humphrey said.

With the first win of the year eluding the Jacks, the team remains optimistic.

“We need to focus on building confidence and team chemistry,” Schiferl said. “Team stability is an important factor for the Jacks this year.

The team hopes to contend in the Varsity National event at the end of the season in Lexington, Ky. The event is the Super Bowl of the Equestrian world and does not begin until May 5.

“Effort has been outstanding. We have a good foundation to build on and it will help us compete this year,” Humphrey said. “We need to continue to ride in the moment.”

#1.1668970:2989339768.jpg:Equestrian.jpg:Victoria Pecak competes at a home event held at the Nathelle and Lawrence DeHaan Equestrian Center.:File Photo
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AUBURN, Ala. – The South Dakota State equestrian team opened the season with a pair of losses in head-to-head competitions against Auburn and Kansas State on Sept. 24 in Auburn, Ala.

“I’m obviously not happy with the results, but I am proud of the effort this afternoon after a tough morning for the English riders,” interim head coach Joe Humphrey said. “Western did really well against Auburn, and I think they did even better against Kansas State in some cases. Hopefully we learn from today and get ready for tomorrow.

The Jackrabbit English riders fell to the Tigers 10-0, while the Tiger Western team nipped the Jacks by the score of 5-4.

Auburn swept both equitation on the flat and equitation over fences, but the Jacks did manage to get two points in horsemanship and two in reining on the Western side.

Kelsey Champagne and Britta Barta picked up the points in horsemanship, while Maggie Holzworth and Lydia Placzek won in reining. Helen Lauth tied her opponent in reining.

Later in the afternoon, the English riders fell 8-2 to Kansas State, while the Western team lost 8-1.

Ashley Marrin beat her opponent on the flat and Morgan Hough edged her opponent over fences for the Jacks two English points, while Angela Gebhart picked up the only point for the Western team in reining.

The Jackrabbit riders return to action on Saturday, when they take on South Carolina at 2 p.m.