Trinity’s equestrian team is going through changes to their program this year.
Their coach, Stephanie Cook, was a college rider at West Point and understands the stress of being a student-athlete. The team travels long distances in order to compete. However, this year they are “splitting the region,” which means current teams they compete against will be rearranged in order to lower the team’s traveling time.
The team competes against riders from other Division III schools who have a club program, like West Texas, and Division I varsity programs like LSU. Despite the lack of resources compared to Division I schools, the Trinity team performs very well.
“We had two of our riders come very close to qualifying to go to regionals this year””Rachel Pauerstein and myself,” said Chelsea Runacres, team captain.
The equestrian program is supported by Caroline Keener, the director of Club and Intramural sports. Club volleyball is now in tournament season and just finished their first tournament at Baylor. They will have another tournament Feb. 28 at Baylor and one last tournament at the end of March. The team also has games every Thursday. Last week, Feb. 12, Trinity played St. Edward’s University and won in three sets.
“With two new freshman joining the team this semester ,we are still learning how to play together and adapting to each others skill sets,” said Dana Dickens, who has played on the team for two years. “Everyone is so passionate about the game we all grew up loving. It’s definitely my favorite stress reliever.”
This is the first year there is a women’s division for ultimate frisbee and many of the members are first-time players. Their first season tournament was Feb. 7-8 in Denton, Texas. They has a successful weekend with their first wins of the season the first day and second days of the tournament.
“Right now we do have about the same number of wins as losses but during this last tournament a lot of players were impressed that we were a first-year team. We are focusing a lot of our energy on D-III conference in St. Louis, MO. in mid-April,” said Molly Hogsett, an ultimate frisbee player.
If they do well in St. Louis, the team may be able to move on to play teams outside of their region.
