Horned Frog Sports Roundup: Feb. 16, 2023

Equestrian: The number 2 ranked TCU Equestrian team had two meets this past weekend as they traveled to California to face off against number 9 ranked Fresno State and UC Davis. The Frogs secured a big-time win over Fresno State on the road by a convincing margin of 15-4. As usual, TCU was dominant in Horsemanship with a 5-0 sweep of the Bulldogs in the event. Mattie Dukes and Jessica McAllister led the Frogs in scoring, each with 76 points and wins over the top two Fresno State riders. Fences was a much closer event but the Frogs prevailed again with a 3-2 victory behind an 83-point ride from Isabella Baxter.

TCU clinched the match in Reining with a 3-1 win. McAllister had the top score for the Frogs but ended her match in a draw, while Dukes, Maddy Buchanan, and Shea Graham all defeated their Fresno State counterparts. TCU had another strong performance in Flat with a 4-1 victory thanks to wins from Ashleigh Scully, Wynne Weatherly, Sydnie Young, and Laurel Smith. This win was even more significant as it put the Frogs in a prime position to clinch the regular season Big 12 Championship for the first time in program history. The Frogs can win the conference with a victory over their next Big 12 opponent, Oklahoma State in Stillwater.

TCU got a win on their second meet of the road trip with an 11-9 victory over UC Davis to move to 9-1 overall, the best start in program history. The Frogs started off quickly with a 4-1 win in Fences thanks to performances of at least 82 points from Baxter, Scully, Sydney Berube, and Ella Bostwick. Horsemanship was up next and it was an eventful one as there were a total of 4 re-rides during the event. TCU was able to take advantage and secure a 4-1 win with points from Dukes, McAllister, Payton Boutelle, and Giorgia Medows. Flats, however, was all UC Davis as they swept the event 5-0, leaving only Reining left for TCU to clinch the match with the score sitting at 8-7. TCU delivered in the final event of the day with a 3-2 victory over UC Davis.

TCU will be back in action next against the number 3 ranked Texas A&M Aggies this Saturday in Fort Worth before the aforementioned match with Oklahoma State on February 25th.

Track and Field: The TCU Track and Field team made the trip out to Lubbock this past weekend for the 2 day Jarvis Open Meet. The first day of the meet was very successful for TCU as they were led by Dreunna Washington who won the long jump event with a 5.88-meter jump on her third attempt. The Frogs had a couple of very good showings in the men’s long jump as well with Patrick Sylla and Jaren Holmes finishing second and third respectively. Iyana Gray secured a second-place finish in the 60-meter finals after winning her heat in the prelims to qualify. Rachel Hall also had a top 10 finish in the 60-meter finals as she came in 7th place for TCU. Jasmin Muhammad-Graham secured another podium finish for the Frogs with an excellent 800-meter run resulting in a second-place finish.

Ryan Martin had a strong showing in the men’s 800-meter with an 8th-place finish thanks to a very good time of 1:51.53. TCU picked up a win on day 2 in the triple jump thanks to a personal best jump of 16.28 meters from Holmes. Quinn Calhoun won the pole vault event for TCU thanks to a personal best vault of 4.11 meters. Mariana Martinez also picked up a definitive victory for the Frogs in the 3,000-meter race, winning the event by over 5 seconds. The Frogs’ final victory of the day came in the men’s unseeded 200-meter race from Donnie James.

TCU’s next meet will be back in Lubbock for the Big 12 Championships next weekend, February 24th-25th.

Women’s Tennis: TCU Women’s Tennis continued their undefeated season this past weekend with 2 dominant wins over San Francisco and Abilene Christian both by scores of 6-1. Against San Francisco, TCU was able to quickly secure the doubles point behind wins from their second and third pairings of Helena Yarmont and Yu-Chin Tsai and Destinee Martins and Tiphanie Lematrie respectively. The top Frog pairing of Mercedes Aristegui and Jade Otway was ahead 4-3 when the doubles point was clinched. The Frogs started fast in singles too as they won 5 of the 6 first sets and won in straight sets in the second through fifth pairings. Lematrie, Aristegui, Otway, Martins, and Yarmont all won their singles matches for TCU while Tsai battled to a close 3-set loss to her San Francisco counterpart.

The winning ways in doubles continued over to the next match against Abilene Christian as the Frogs’ top two pairings of Mercedes Aristegui/Jade Otway and Yu-Chin Tsai/Helena Narmont had strong performances with wins of 6-1 and 6-3 respectively. The third pairing for TCU of Margaret Polk/Destinee Martins was winning 5-4 when the doubles point was clinched. Singles were even more dominant as all 5 victories for TCU came in straight sets and the only loss for TCU was a very close 3-set loss in the 6th singles match. TCU is now 6-0 on the season and will next host LSU in a match this Sunday before traveling to Orlando for their first road trip of the season for a match against UCF on February 24th.

Women’s Golf: TCU Women’s Golf recently had a tropical trip to the Bahamas for the Nexus Collegiate to compete against 9 other teams including fellow Big 12 member Oklahoma State. The Frogs started out strong but faded down the stretch as they shot the 6th-best score as a team on day 1 but had the 10th-best scores on days 2 and 3 of the tournament. Caitlyn McNabb had an excellent first day, carding a team-best 2-over 74.

Lois Lau was right behind her with a very solid 3-over 75 while Sofia Barroso also had a solid day 1, carding a 5-over 77. The highlight of the weekend came from Sabrina Nguyen who had an eagle on hole 14 of day 3 for TCU despite some very tough conditions that had made it much more difficult for all competitors throughout the tournament.

The Frogs’ next tournament will take place on March 17th-19th in Arizona at Saddlebrooke Mountain View Golf Club for the Mountain View Invitational.