04/16 at 11:58 PM

WACO, Texas — The Auburn equestrian team lost, 6-2, in Western to New Mexico State on Thursday in the first round of the 2009 Varsity Equestrian National Championships.

The Aggies defeated the Tigers 3-1 in both Western Horsemanship and Western Reining.

“It was just a bad day for us,” said Auburn head coach Greg Williams. “We had some rides that I was hoping would draw any better scores than they did, but we also beat ourselves. We didn’t really deserve to win today. Our hats are off to New Mexico State for stepping up and beating us.”

New Mexico State won Western Horsemanship 3-1. Aggie winners included Kate Chesley over Kylie Miller 140-0 (0 refers to a no score because of a penalty), Rachael Krause over Bailey Dymond 145-143 and Tonna Brooks over Amy Bohan 143-142. Auburn’s Jessica Jones had the high score of the day defeating Codi Binkerd 146-143.

New Mexico State won Western Reining 3-1. Aggie winners included Ashley Dietz over Kim Pope 142-140.5, Kate Chesley over Lyndsey Jordan 134.5-131.5 and Tonna Brooks over Paige Monfore 125.5-110. Tiger winners include Jessica Jones over Rachael Krause 134.5-127.

In Hunt Seat, top-seeded Auburn had a bye in the first round. The Tigers will face eighth-seeded Kansas State. The second round took place Thursday afternoon and will finish today. The 2009 Varsity Equestrian National Championships will run through Saturday at the Heart of Texas Fair and Rodeo Complex in Waco, Texas.

Men’s golf heads to SEC Tournament
SAINT SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. — The Auburn men’s golf team will be making its 47th appearance in the SEC Golf Tournament at the par-72, 7,331-yard Frederica Golf Club today-Sunday.

Senior Glenn Northcutt will make his 10th start of the season and his ninth in the No. 1 position. Junior Cole Moreland will start in the No. 2 slot, followed by freshman Kyle Kopsick at No. 3, senior Keith White at No. 4 and freshman Will McCurdy at No. 5.

The field includes top-ranked Georgia followed by No. 7 Alabama, No. 11 Florida, No. 13 Arkansas, No. 14 South Carolina, No. 18 Tennessee, No. 25 LSU, Auburn, Kentucky, Ole Miss, Mississippi State and Vanderbilt.

“We are accustomed to being nationally ranked going into the SEC Championships each season,” said head coach Mike Griffin. “This year has been a little different with our squad currently being ranked 52nd in the Golfstat poll. There are no fewer than seven teams in the SEC currently ranked within the Top 30 this year. Georgia is ranked No. 1 to lead the teams, and is surely the pre-tournament favorite.

“There are many individuals who could take the individual title this year, and our most likely candidate would be Glenn Northcutt. Cole Moreland has enjoyed some good success this season, and I hope he carries it to the tournament with him. Beyond that anything can happen. We are going over, as always, to win the Championship. Someone is going to win, and most will lose. We just want our best performance of the year from each of our players. If we can come away knowing that we played our best, we will be competitive.”

Following a Thursday practice round, the Tigers will tee off from the No. 1 hole for the opening round beginning at 8:50 a.m. today.

Live scoring will be available at http://www.golfstat.com. All daily and final results will also be posted at http://www.SECsports.com.

The SEC Championship will also be featured on the April 23 edition of SEC-TV at 5:30 p.m. on FSN South, FSN Southwest and SUN Sports. The show will include taped highlights and interviews.

Women’s golf ready for conference tourney
With the regular season complete, the No. 6 Auburn women’s golf team looks to the next step this weekend as the Tigers travel to Blythewood, S.C., for the 2009 Southeastern Conference Women’s Golf Tournament.

The 54-hole tournament will take place at the University Club at Cobblestone Park and will run today-Sunday.

“It is hard to believe it is the end of the year. We have been preparing for this all year, it is not just something you prepare for in a few days, it is something we prepare for all year. I think the kids are anxious to get there and get this under way.”

The Tigers enter the tournament on a hot streak, winning three of their last four tournaments. Auburn will be looking for its seventh SEC title over all and the first since winning it in 2006.

Leading the Auburn attack is the junior-sophomore combination of Candace Schepperle and Cydney Clanton. Schepperle enters the tournament with the best stroke average in the conference, 71.92 per round, and is the No. 2 rated player in the nation. Clanton, last year’s SEC and National Freshman of the Year, comes in ranked ninth in the conference in stroke average and is the No. 34 rated player in the country.

The pair make up Auburn’s best shot at an individual title, a feat accomplished by only five Tigers ever. The last to win the SEC individual crown was Maria Martinez in 2006. Schepperle finished tied for seventh in the tournament last year, following a T25th-place showing as a sophomore. Clanton finished 29th last year as a freshman.

With Schepperle and Clanton combining with Auburn’s lone senior, Mariana Macias, Evans sees a solid core of leadership that she hopes will help her team through the tournament.

“All of our girls that have played have had a strong role in the leadership of the team. Mariana has hung in there tough and Candace has done a great job all season as a leader,” said Evans. “Cydney kind of has a natural leadership about her, so I know that we have three strong leaders out on the golf course. You have to think that your leaders are saying the right things at the right times, staying focused and staying patient.”

Rounding out the lineup are the freshman pair of Haley Wilson and Patricia Sanz. Wilson will be playing in just her fifth tournament as a Tiger at the SEC Championship as she graduated from high school early and joined the team in January.

Wilson currently ranks third on the team with a 75.40 stroke average, followed by Sanz in fourth with a 76.50. According to Evans, the biggest impact the freshman have had on the team is contributing to its overall depth.

“Haley Wilson has added that depth that we were lacking, I could not be more proud of her with the way she has stepped right in to college golf and played as well as she has,” said Evans. “Patricia has grown so much since the fall. She has really worked hard and caught on to the college game. I could not be happier with the freshmen.”

The Auburn squad of Schepperle, Clanton, Wilson, Sanz and Macias will head into a tough SEC field made up of 11 of the top 50 teams in the country, including six in the top 25. Auburn, however, is considered the favorite as it is at the top of that list, ranked sixth in the nation.

The Tigers are coming off a fourth-place showing at the SEC Tournament last season, finishing 36 strokes behind champion Florida. This will be the second time for South Carolina to host the tournament at its University Club with the first time coming in 1997. Auburn finished fifth that season with Georgia taking the title.

At par-71 and 6,204 yards, Evans said the ability to hit your targets will be key in playing the course well.

“There will be some real fast greens, it has some hills to it. The course is set up with a couple of par-5s that will be reachablEvans. “Some of the holes are pretty tough, very target-oriented, but I think it will be a lot of fun to play. With a course like this, you have to be very disciplined and have a good game plan.”

As far as any keys to winning, Evans said she is confident in her team and they just need to go out and execute their game plan.

“We just have to go out and play golf, take it one day at a time and execute our game plan around the golf course,” said Evans. “You can’t think about winning or what you have to do to win, you just have to stay real disciplined and take care of the things you can control.”

Auburn is set to go off in the first wave of tee times with South Carolina and LSU at 7:30 a.m. Fans can follow the tournament with live scoring at http://www.GolfStat.com.

Hubbard named to award watch list
Austin Hubbard was named to the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Stopper of the Year Midseason Watch on the day that Auburn leaves for a three-game Southeastern Conference series with South Carolina that begins on Friday in Columbia, S.C.

Hubbard is one of 45 pitchers on the list and currently leads the SEC with eight saves and was tied for 11th nationally entering the week. In 27 innings pitched the junior righty has struck out 45 while issuing just 12 walks, compiling a 4.00 ERA and a 2-1 record.

Auburn heads into this weekend in a virtual tie with South Carolina as both bring in identical 23-14 overall records and both are 7-8 in SEC play, tied with Alabama for seventh in the standings.

Auburn is in search of just its second series win in Columbia with the only other win coming in 1997, which is also the last time Auburn has won a series from USC. Auburn is just 5-13 all-time in South Carolina’s home park.

Auburn hopes to carry over the offense that was on display in Wednesday’s 12-7 win over South Alabama which saw Auburn mash five more home runs, three off the bat of Brian Fletcher, to bring the season total to 79.

Auburn enters the weekend with a team batting average of .296 and a staff ERA of 5.90 while South Carolina is just ahead of Auburn in the SEC hitting rankings with a .304 team batting average while also sporting a 4.96 ERA, eighth in the league.

Auburn will send So. LHP Grant Dayton (2-3, 4.24 ERA) to the mound today and R-Fr. RHP Jon Luke Jacobs (3-2, 6.00) on Saturday but has yet to decide on a Sunday starter.

South Carolina will counter with So. RHP Sam Dyson (5-2, 5.21) on Friday, Fr. LHP Nolan Belcher (2-1, 3.73) on Saturday and Jr. RHP Blake Cooper (4-3, 4.57) on Sunday.

Game times for the weekend are 6 p.m. today, 3 p.m. on Saturday and 12:30 p.m. on Sunday. Saturday’s game will be carried live on television by SportsSouth while all three games will be carried on the Auburn Network.