Merritt wins two national championships
STAFF REPORT / The Collegian
Senior Kayla Merritt won two national championships, and the Fresno State equestrian team placed third overall in the Western division of the Intercollegiate Horse Show Association national championship in Sunbury, Ohio this weekend. It was the second straight year Fresno State has placed in the top three in the Western division at the national championships.
Merritt won the intermediate Western horsemanship and novice Western horsemanship titles. It was Merritt’s second straight title in the novice Western event. Merritt, from Quartz Hill, Calif., went undefeated during 2003-2004 before faltering slightly in the middle of this year, only to recover and win the two national championships.
“We are very proud of Kayla,” Bulldogs assistant coach Trista Armstrong said in a news release. “She struggled through some things this year but has really come on strong at the end of the year and performed really well today. She was definitely back to her old form. She shines at the national championships.”
Elizabeth Knapp, a senior from Durham, Calif., took third in open reigning and sixth in the open Western horsemanship competition. Junior Brenna Burris, from Farson, Wyo., placed sixth in open reigning and was 14th in the American Quarter Horse Association top rider competition.
Rounding out the list of Bulldogs riders in the top 10 were Sierra Daniels, of Oakley, Calif., who took fourth in team intermediate Western horsemanship, and Kristin Marchesi, from Santa Paula, Calif., who finished fourth in advanced Western Horsemanship.
The Bulldogs’ English squad finished 10th at the national championship meet, led by Leyla Mundy, a senior from Santa Barbara, who placed fifth in novice equitation over fences on Saturday. Mundy was the only Fresno State rider to place in Friday’s English competition.
Two Fresno State alumni riders, Tiffany Washington and Laine Hendricks, also competed at the event, taking fifth and eighth, respectively, in the alumni Western horsemanship class.
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