UW Equestrian Club High

The University of Wyoming hunt seat equestrian team was the high-point club both days in the final competition of the fall semester last weekend in Colorado Springs, Colo.

The UW club sport team was given the award after the riders’ successes. Team member Emily Cokl, of Salt Lake City, Utah, “pointed out” of her division Saturday, and another, Haylee Russell, of Tampa, Fla., won three of her classes last weekend.

“We all rode really well all weekend,” UW Coach Jessica Ford says. “Everyone has improved from the beginning of the semester. We’re on our way to regionals with Emily, with more to come for sure.”

Cokl, the team’s president, earned qualification to the regional competition in the spring. She was in the advanced walk, trot and canter division but, with her seven-point earned win, she “pointed out,” moving her up into the novice division. Now, Cokl can start competing in the jumping classes and will ride in regionals in the spring.

“I wasn’t really expecting to win and ‘point out.’ I thought it would be next semester for sure,” Cokl says. “But, I had a good ride, so I’m really excited about going to regionals again and to start jumping.”

Last season, Cokl not only qualified for the regionals competition, but also zones -- the next highest competition, which includes multiple regions -- as well as nationals for the Intercollegiate Horse Show Association (IHSA). IHSA is the organization in which college equestrian teams from all over the nation compete, similar to the NCAA division.

Another successful rider last weekend was Russell, a transfer student from the University of Mississippi. Russell won her jumping class last Saturday and won both of her classes -- jumping and flat -- the next day, tying her for high-point rider of the day.

For the tiebreaker between the two riders for high point, Russell and another competitor from the University of Colorado-Colorado Springs (UCCS) were asked to demonstrate the correct way to mount and dismount a horse, but Russell was edged out by the UCCS rider.

The western team, the other riding discipline of the UW equestrian club, competes at the University of Nebraska competition this weekend.