[429] MTSU Riders Seek IHSA National Championship April 23-26 in Miller Coliseum

Release date: April 21, 2009


News & Public Affairs contact: Randy Weiler, 615-898-2919 or jweiler@mtsu.edu
MTSU equestrian team contact: Anne Brzezicki, 615-904-8481 or abrzezic@mtsu.edu


MTSU Riders Seek IHSA National Championship April 23-26 in Miller Coliseum


(MURFREESBORO) — MTSU once again will host the Intercollegiate Horse Show Association National Championships at Tennessee Miller Coliseum, with this year’s events set Thursday through Sunday, April 23-26.
MTSU has seven riders advancing to the championships, including Megan Hephner, a sophomore from Georgetown, Ky., in the advanced Western division and Korry Bailey, a freshman from Cookeville, in the reining division.
MTSU also hosted the regional competitions for Western riders on March 15 at Miller Coliseum in the adjacent Horse Science Arena. Regional competitions are divided by riding style, whether Western or hunter seat.
MTSU hosted the 1979 IHSA National Championships, where Western horsemanship was first included in IHSA events and team competition was introduced into the nationals. The university hosted the national competition again in 2003 and 2004.
“We have the best facility in America for this competition,” Equestrian Team Coach Anne Brzezicki said of MTSU’s selection as host university. “We are also in a region that is known for being very involved with and supportive of IHSA.”
Brzezicki rode in and coached the equestrian team at the University of Connecticut before moving to MTSU to teach in 1976. She founded the MTSU Equestrian Team in 1977, which helped add a new region to IHSA competition by including schools west of Virginia.
During her time at MTSU, Brzezicki has coached the team to numerous regional and zone championships in both the hunter seat and Western styles. In 2003, Brzezicki received the IHSA Lifetime Achievement Award, and she was named IHSA Coach of the Year in 2004. She will serve as a horse selection chair for this year’s national competition.
Competing students ride horses provided by the host university, and horses are matched with riders by random selection.
“The competition will borrow about 170 horses—10 will come from MTSU, and the rest from nearby IHSA schools and farms as far as Virginia and Illinois,” Brzezicki said.

“We look for highly trained horses, because riders are asked to demonstrate complex maneuvers, but the horses must also be forgiving. A competition horse must have a good attitude and can tolerate being ridden by several people in one day.”
By eliminating the cost of owning, boarding and transporting horses, IHSA shows are financially accessible to more students. It also allows students to compete regardless of their riding experience.
Ohio State University (Western category) and the University of Kentucky (Hunter-Seat) earned national titles in 2008.
For more information about and show details for the IHSA Nationals, visit www.ihsainc.com and click the “IHSA Nationals” link.

IHSA schedule of events
At Tennessee Miller Coliseum
All times Central
Thursday — 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Friday — 9 a.m. – 8 p.m.
Saturday — 9 a.m. – 9 pm.
Sunday — 9 a.m. – 3 p.m.
Admission: Free
Directions: http://frank.mtsu.edu/~horsesci/ and click on “Map and Directions”

For MTSU news and information, go to mtsunews.com.

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Media welcomed.

Note: This Office of News and Public Affairs news release was written by Claire Rogers, who is a junior public relations major from Franklin.