Equestrian brings home gold at ECAC championships, besting South Dakota State University

UC Davis equestrian Lauren Kolbe performs a dressage routine aboard horse Masi at the UC Davis Equestrian Center on March 7, 2026. (Grant Judkins / Aggie)

The championship win capped off an undefeated season in conference play

On March 26 to 28, the UC Davis equestrian team traveled to Delaware for the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) championship meet. The meet consisted of two matches: a semifinal match against the Delaware State Hornets and a final against the South Dakota State University Jackrabbits. The Aggies took home the ECAC trophy after besting South Dakota State with a final score of 11-7.

The equestrian team had a successful season leading up to the championship, going undefeated in conference meets.

“We were undefeated in conference play, which is incredibly rare,” Eliza Plum, a second-year biology major who competes in the horsemanship discipline, said. “So, that kind of really boosted all of our excitement and energy going into conference.”

In addition to going undefeated in conference meets, the Aggies’ strong season also included a win against Texas Christian University (TCU) — their first in program history.

“I think that this season has probably been the best season that we've ever had here at UC Davis,” Mylea Trimble, a third-year communication major, said. “We broke multiple records. We've been ranked the highest we've ever been ranked in program history. We also beat TCU for the first time in program history, and we went undefeated in conference play all season, which is pretty rare, especially in our sport.”

The Aggies beat South Dakota State twice in the regular season before facing them in the championship. On the first day of competition, the Aggies took on Delaware State in the semifinals. The Aggies went into the match as the first seed, whereas Delaware was the fourth.

“It ended up being 10-9, which I think a lot of us were feeling a little worried about the next day because we were going to be moving to the finals against the No. 2 team,” Plum said. “But that also kind of fueled a little bit of fire [as in] we need to ride even harder and make this the best one yet.”

Although it was a tight win, it was enough to send the Aggies to the final against South Dakota State.

The first event of the final was fences, where Sabine Close, a second-year history major, Lauren Kolbe, a third-year political science major and Anna Donovan, a second-year psychology major, were all able to outscore their opponents and secure a point for UC Davis. This gave the Aggies a small 3-2 advantage going into the second discipline: reigning.

Reigners Avery Adamson, a second-year psychology major, and Mya Clader, a fourth-year human development major, were able to score points in the reigning discipline. However, the overall score ended as a 2-2 tie.

“I think that one of the biggest strengths we pulled through was that some of those horses were really tough,” Trimble, who competes in the reigning discipline, said. “And a lot of them had been brought in specifically for that meet, so nobody knew them. I think that every single person did an excellent job going in there, getting on the horse and reading it in those four minutes and being able to pull a ride out of it.”

The third discipline, jumping seat flat, also ended in a 2-2 tie. This brought the overall score to 7-6, giving the Aggies a slight lead. Carmen Gonzalez, a second-year animal science major, and Donovan both secured a point in this discipline.

It was then up to the last discipline, horsemanship, to conclude the close match.

“The pressure this weekend was really on the horsemanship,” Plum said. “We never go to the end [...] All season, we start out in the morning, so the pressure isn't really on us, like the fate of the meet doesn't really lie on us. This time […] horsemanship ended up going 4-1, so [we] really came through at the end to win the meet.”

Plum, along with Katya Dundas, a fourth-year animal science major, Laura Kate Holliday, a third-year biological sciences major and Kylie Jacobson, a third-year cognitive science major, were the scorers in the last round that helped secure the trophy.

This was the second ECAC win in program history, the first being at the end of the 2022-23 season. It will also be the last ECAC championship the team competes in, due to the UC Davis Athletics Department’s decision to demote the team to club status, effective in the 2026-27 school year.

“Having that news given to us, I honestly think that it lit a fire inside of us that a lot of us didn't know we had,” Trimble said. “And as much as I hate to say it, I actually think it made a lot of us ride better at conference because it gave us something to prove. And I think that, regardless, we would have had a great season, but I definitely think that having that news brought to us made us want to do everything we possibly could to show the Athletics Department that they made a mistake in cutting our program. And I think that we did just that.”

Some of the equestrian team student-athletes have filed a lawsuit against UC Davis following the demotion, seeking reinstatement. While their future remains uncertain, the championship win marks a significant achievement for the team.

Written by: Colina Harvey — sports@theaggie.org