Horned Frog Sports Roundup: Feb. 1, 2023

Equestrian:

TCU Equestrian opened its spring season this past Thursday at the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo in a meet with South Dakota State. The number 2 ranked Frogs took care of business, winning the meet 16-3, winning all four events, and the cumulative score 1,470.5 to 1,351. This win marked their 5th straight at the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo and moved them to 7-1 on the season.

The Frogs started off hot with a sweep in Flat, getting 4 of 5 possible points in the event. Wynne Weatherly earned most outstanding player for the Frogs in Flat with 83 points in the event which was the highest of any rider. TCU finished the Jumping Seat events with a narrow win in Fences by a score of 3 points to 2. Ella Bostwick was the most outstanding player (MOP) in Fences as she was awarded 83 points while riding on Java. She was 1 of 3 Frogs to score more than 80 points in Fences and was joined by Isabella Baxter and Sydney Berube, who recorded scores of 82 and 81 respectively.

TCU started off the Western events with a comfortable 4-1 victory in Reining where Shea Graham won MOP, leading all riders with a score of 71. Mattie Dukes, Jessica McAllister, and Giorgia Medows all secured wins for the Frogs in Reining. Horsemanship was the second sweep of the day for TCU where they secured 5 out of 5 possible points in the event. McAllister locked down MOP honors for TCU in Horsemanship with an event high 79.5 score on Brady. Dukes, Graham, Medows, and Peyton Boutelle all won their matchups in Horsemanship as well. The Frogs’ home meet with Auburn was scheduled for this Friday but was canceled due to icy conditions in Fort Worth. TCU will travel to California to face off against Fresno State next Friday, February 10th.

Swimming and Diving:

Both the men’s and women’s teams had their final regular season meets of the year this past weekend as the women faced off against Iowa State last Friday and the men swam against Missouri State this Saturday.

The Frogs dropped the meet against Iowa State despite a valiant effort from senior Emma Hultquist. Hultquist won 3 events for the Frogs with victories in the 100 and 200-yard freestyle along with being a part of the winning 400-yard freestyle relay. She was joined on the relay team by Serena Gould, Olivia Rhodes, and Lucia Simovicova.

TCU also had the top 3 finishers on the 1-meter boards with Faith Harms-Zacharias leading the way and Anna Kwong and Gracie Liang finishing out the top 3. Jordan Edwards had a very good meet for TCU, winning the 1000-meter freestyle by over 5 seconds and finishing second in the 500-meter freestyle. Olivia Rhodes also picked up a win for the Frogs in the 50-meter freestyle. The 200-meter medley relay team of Rylee Moore, Claire Chahbandour, Jeanne Dahmen, and Olivia Rhodes picked up a win over the Cyclones as well.

The men’s team was able to get a win in Fort Worth over Missouri State on Senior Day by a total score of 177-123. Milan Fabian had a great day for the Frogs as he picked up 3 victories in the 1000-meter freestyle, the 50-meter freestyle, and the 100-meter freestyle. TCU had the top two divers in the 1-meter as Ollie Cazaly got the win and Alec Hubbard finished right behind him in second.

The top two in the 200-meter backstroke were both Frogs as Edgar Cicanci barely edged out Elliot Jones for the win. Cicanci continued his success onto the 100-meter backstroke as he finished first in that event. Jadon Wuilliez swept the 100 and 200-meter breaststrokes with excellent times of 55.46 and 2:04.80 respectively. Luke Dimicili and Piotr Sadlowski both won events in the 200-meter freestyle and the 100-meter fly respectively.

Both teams will be back in the pool for Pre-Conference Time Trials for the Big 12 Championship this Saturday, February 4th. The Big 12 Championship will be on February 22nd-February 25th in Austin.

Rifle:

TCU Rifle completed a perfect regular season this past Saturday in El Paso over the UTEP Miners by a team score of 4,742 to 4,541. Julie Johannessen stole the show for the Frogs as she became the 5th shooter in school history to ever shoot a perfect score.

It was a dominant performance all around for TCU as they were responsible for the top 8 aggregate scores in the meet. Johannessen led the way with a score of 1195, followed by Katie Zaun with 1185, Abby Gordon with 1184, Kristen Hemphill with 1178, Stephanie Allan and Mikole Hogan both with 1175, Anne White with 1171, and Nina Schuett with 1159. TCU recorded the top 7 scores in smallbore as Johannessen led the way with 595, completing the regular season of shooting at least a 591 in smallbore in every meet this season. Zaun and Gordon followed, both scoring a 588.

TCU was even better in air rifle, posting the top 8 scores in the event. Johannessen was the leader with a perfect 600 and every other Frog shooter scored at least a 592 in the event. The Horned Frogs will next travel to Alaska-Fairbanks for the PRC Championships, this Saturday and Sunday, February 4th and 5th. TCU will be competing alongside Air Force, Alaska, Nebraska, Ohio State, and UTEP, all of which TCU has competed against and beaten earlier this season.

Men’s Tennis:

TCU Men’s Tennis qualified to defend their ITA Indoor National Championship this past weekend as they won as a host in ITA Kickoff Weekend with wins over Gonzaga and Texas Tech. The Frogs were dominant in both matches as they shut out both of their opponents with both meets ending 4-0 in favor of TCU.

TCU has been downright dominant in doubles this season and their first meet of the weekend against Gonzaga was no different as no pairing for TCU trailed at any point during the doubles matches. Sander Jong and Lui Maxted secured the win first against the number 1 pairing from Gonzaga by a score of 6-2. Sebastian Gorzny and Pedro Vives clinched the doubles point with a 6-3 victory and Jake Fearnley and Luc Fomba were up 5-2 and serving for set point when TCU clinched.

TCU continued its success over into singles where Fearnley, Maxted, and Tomas Jirousek all picked up wins in straight sets. Gorzny was ahead in the first set of his match and Jong had split the first two sets with his opponent and was winning the third set when the meet was clinched. TCU punched their ticket to the ITA National Championships with a dominant victory over the 3-seeded Texas Tech Red Raiders. The doubles matches were much more stressful for TCU against TTU than they were against Gonzaga as it came down to the second pairing to determine the doubles point.

Jong and Maxted took care of business against the top pairing from Tech by a score of 6-2 but Vives and Gorzny dropped a tough one to the third pairing from Tech. Fomba and Fearnley came through for TCU though in a very close 7-5 victory to clinch the doubles point. The singles matches were all TCU as the top 3 singles matches were all won by the Frogs in straight sets to clinch the meet. Next, TCU will travel to Knoxville for a meet with the number 10 ranked Volunteers this Thursday, February 2nd.