Horned Frog Sports Roundup: April 20, 2023

Women’s Tennis

TCU Women’s Tennis hit the road for two matchups with in-conference opponents as they traveled to Ames, Iowa this past Friday and Morgantown, West Virginia this past Sunday.

The Frogs dropped their first match against a very good Cyclones team by a score of 4-0. Iowa State got off to a fast start with wins from their second and third doubles pairings over TCU pairings of Jade Otway/Mercedes Aristegui and Destinee Martins/Tiphanie Lemaitre respectively. The Horned Frogs’ top pairing of Yu-Chin Tsai and Helena Narmont was leading their Iowa State counterparts by a score of 5-4 when the point was clinched by the Cyclones. Narmont and Tsai had the two best performances in singles for the Frogs as they were not able to win their match ups but both pushed them to third sets and were unable to finish before the match was clinched by Iowa State.

The Frogs bounced back very well from the defeat in Ames with a commanding victory in their regular season finale over the Mountaineers by a score of 6-1. The Frogs took a 1-0 lead thanks to wins from the Otway/Aristegui and Martins/Lemaitre pairings in doubles. Martins and Lemaitre handled their match easily with a 6-2 victory to start things off for the Frogs. Otway and Aristegui clinched the point with a 6-4 victory while Tsai and Narmont were in a very close match with the top pairing from WVU when the match was clinched.

TCU would continue that momentum into singles as they took five of six first sets. Lemaitre, Aristegui, Martins, Narmont, and Otway would all win their matches in straight sets, highlighted by a dominating 6-1, 6-0 win from Mercedes Aristegui over the second singles player from West Virginia. Tsai was unable to secure a match victory but battled for a 6-2 win in the second set and lost in a tiebreaker in the third set to the number three singles player for the Mountaineers.

Next for TCU is the Big 12 Championship where they will once again play West Virginia in the first round. The tournament will take place in Lawrence, Kansas with the Frogs first round matchup against WVU taking place today at 11 am.

Equestrian

TCU Equestriean traveled to Ocala, Florida for the NCEA National Championships this past weekend where they were the number four overall seed. The Frogs made it to the semifinals before falling to the eventual national champions and top overall seed in SMU.

TCU’s first round matchup was an in-state foe as the Frogs were matched up against a familiar opponent in fifth seeded Texas A&M who TCU had seen and beaten twice in the regular season. This meeting between the Aggies and Frogs was no different as TCU secured the 13-7 victory to advance to the second round.

The Frogs dropped Fencing to start the meet by a score of 3-2 with points coming from Isabella Baxter and Ella Botswick. TCU would bounce back, however, with a 3-2 win of their own in Reining to tie the meet at the halfway point. The Big 12 Reining Rider of the Year, Mattie Dukes, won the first point of the event for the Frogs with a narrow win over her Texas A&M counterpart with the margin of victory being only half a point. Shea Graham and Lannie-Jo Lisac were also winners in Reining for TCU.

The Frogs earned another 3-2 win, this time in Flat, to take the lead in the meet going into the final event. Laurel Smith, Wynne Weatherly, and Sydnie Young all won points for the Frogs in Flat to take the event. TCU would leave no doubt in Horsemanship with a 5-0 sweep to clinch the meet and advance to the semifinals. Dukes, Graham, Giorga Medows, Jessica McAllister, and Payton Boutelle were the winners for TCU in Horsemanship.

A cross town rival waited for the Frogs in the semifinals as SMU and TCU would square off for a spot in the national championship meet. The Frogs got off to a slow start as they were swept 5-0 in Fences. SMU would extend their lead to 8-2 with a 3-2 win in Reining despite wins from Medows and Graham. Graham earned the top overall score for the event with a ride scoring 215.5 to edge out her SMU opponent by half a point.

The Mustangs would clinch a spot in the national championship with a 4-1 victory in Flat despite a strong performance from Wynne Weatherly who earned the only point of the event for TCU. The Frogs would win their first event of the meet in Horsemanship by a score of 3-2 with Mattie Dukes, Jessica McAllister, and Giorgia Medows all earning points in the event.

This wraps up an incredibly successful season for TCU Equestrian as they made an appearance in the Big 12 Championship meet in addition to the NCEA Semifinals and set program records for wins and winning percentage in the Big 12 era. The Frogs had the most All-American and first team All-American selections nationwide and should be poised for another run next season as much of their team this year has the opportunity to return for a special season in Fort Worth in 2023-24.

Track and Field

TCU Outdoor Track and Field travled to Norman, Oklahoma this past weekend for the two day Sooner Invitational meet. The Frogs had a strong day one as Jill Johnson and Ellie Dobson were in third and fifth respectively through the first day of heptathlon competition. Johnson won the high jump with a height of 1.71 meters and finished second in the 100m hurdles with a time of 14.42. Emma Seetoo finished on the podium in women’s long jump with a leap of 6.27 meters, good for third place.

The relay teams for the Frogs were exceptional on the second day of competition as three Horned Frog relay teams won their respective events. The men’s 4x100m team finished in first thanks to a time of 40.28 as both the men’s and women’s 4x400 teams won their events with times of 3:11.76 and 3:47.79 respectively. The women’s 4x100 team had a solid showing as well with a third place finish and a time of 45.76. Ryan Martin won the 1500m for the Frogs with a great time of 3:51.55 and Iyana Gray won the 200m as she finished with an excellent time of 22.77. Jade Ferrell was the final winner of the day for TCU as she finished first in the high jump. Dobson and Johnson finished third and fourth respectively in the women’s heptathlon with very strong second days of competition.

The Frogs will next head to Waco for the Michael Johnson Invitational taking place this Friday and Saturday.