Off to the races

One of the up-and-coming programs at UC Davis is the women’s equestrian team. The Aggies are entering their second official NCAA season and the team consists of 27 riders who compete in Western and English style competitions all around the U.S. against other high caliber teams. The women of the equestrian team have been working harder than ever as they enter this new season with high hopes and a full roster. 

“Fifty percent of our team is brand new, with freshmen and transfers,” said head coach Jessie Weisinger. “I am really looking at the returners for leadership and guidance. We are kind of a unique team in that we are super united in the way that we started [the team] last year.” 

The team welcomes 13 new faces to the roster, including nine freshmen, who seem to be impressing the team’s older riders.

  “In both the horsemanship and the reigning, we have some really exciting freshmen coming in,” said senior western rider Bobbie Piddock. “Freshmen Kendal [Scheiner] and Macey Newkirk are such great riders and have a lot of passion for the sport. Malena [Palmer] is the only freshman starting on the horsemanship side this weekend. She is a beautiful rider and works really hard.” 

Senior jumping seat rider Stephanie Don also weighed in on the new group.

“For Hunt Seat, sophomore Laura Wise has been working really hard, and she really stepped it up on the scrimmage on Friday,” Don said.  

On Sept. 27, the Aggies had a promising Blue and Gold scrimmage where every team member was able to ride and show how hard they have been training.

“We have only been practicing for three weeks leading up to [the scrimmage],” Weisinger said. “We learned a few things about some of our new horses that came in.”

“Everyone was able to ride and practice the format of the meet, everything went really well at the scrimmage,” Don added. “There are a lot of talented girls this season.” 

This season, there are new changes as the squad gets more time to train and welcomes more competition. Last season, the team only competed in six official meets before the NCEA championships in April. This year, the Aggies have a full slate of eight official meets, including an added Fall schedule. 

“Last year we had such a small team, only 19 girls,” Piddock explained. “This year it is all about keeping that positive foundation that we had last year. Keeping those good vibes and great energy, we all got along so well and worked so hard.”

The Aggies will face some brand new competition as they are now included in the newly formed East Coast Athletic Conference (ECAC). They have great excitement about meeting strong programs such as Auburn, UT Martin, South Dakota State, SMU and Lynchburg. The program hopes to qualify for the ECAC championship in March, as it would be an important step in its preparation for Nationals come April. 

The squad plans to reach their goals and move past their competition with full force with the help of their powerful leadership. Don and Piddock plan to be role models for the younger squad members by “leading by example,” according to Piddock. At the same time, they must inspire the team’s other athletes display the same level of leadership, Don added. 

The Equestrian team has high hopes for this program as they want to keep carrying on the positive energy this close-knit team brings every day — in addition to their primary goal of winning a National Championship. 

  “We have really established we are all here for each other and care about each other,” explained Don. “I really want the incoming riders and returners to really carry on that tradition of being there for each other and really having a heart for the sport.” 

This season’s journey began in Waco, Texas over this past weekend, where the Aggies took on both Baylor and Delaware State. 

“We all want the dub against Delaware and Baylor,” Piddock said. “Individually, I think we all just want to go out there and lay out a penalty-free ride, and that is one of the most important parts. Just going out there showing and improving what we are going to be in this new Division 1 equestrian era.”

While the team was ultimately defeated in its first meet against Baylor, it was able to secure two points in the contest. One point came from freshman rider Macey Newkirk in the raigning event and the other from senior rider Sabin Marquardt, who scored an impressive 76 in the fences event.

The Aggies then ended up tying their meet against Delaware State, where Marquardt and Newkirk were again able to win a point in each of their respective events. Don and freshman rider Ella Longo also won their points in the fences event to contribute toward the Aggies’ total point total of eight.

The team will now get set to face Oklahoma State at home on Oct. 26, and then battle Fresno State on Nov. 15, before a two-month break. With positive leadership and hard work, the future of UC Davis Equestrian is bright, and only just beginning. 

  Weisinger hopes that the team continues to have fun while performing well. 

“We work hard, we practice, but at the end of the day you have got to have some fun doing it,” Weisinger said. “Or else, why are you doing it?”

Written by: Frankie Veverka — sports@theaggie.org

Fair Pay to Play Bill becomes law

After much talk and anticipation, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill 206 on Sept. 30, allowing college athletes in the state to profit off of their own name, image and likeness starting in 2023. The formal signing of the bill was completed on HBO’s “The Shop,” hosted by NBA star Lebron James.

“I don’t want to say this is checkmate, but this is a major problem for the NCAA,” Newsom said on the show. “It’s going to initiate dozens of other states to introduce similar legislation, and it’s going to change college sports for the better by having now the interest, finally, of the athletes on par with the interests of the institutions. Now, we’re re-balancing that power arrangement.”

Newsom added that many university presidents and athletic boosters in the state of California contacted him and urged him to veto the bill but he felt strongly that “the state needed to address the racial, gender and economic injustices ingrained in college athletics.” 

This bill has the potential to change college athletics and the NCAA as we know them, as discussed in The California Aggie two weeks ago. Not only was the NCAA against the bill, but many schools in California tried to pressure the Governor into vetoing it. Now, the NCAA has to prepare for change, whether they wanted it or not. 

The NCAA apparently believes that “changes are needed” in order to support student-athletes, but that “improvement needs to happen on a national level through the NCAA’s rules-making process,” according to a statement released by the organization on Sept. 30. 

“Unfortunately, this new law already is creating confusion for current and future student-athletes, coaches, administrators and campuses, and not just in California,” the statement continued. “As more states consider their own specific legislation related to this topic, it is clear that a patchwork of different laws from different states will make unattainable the goal of providing a fair and level playing field for 1,100 campuses and nearly half a million student-athletes nationwide.” 

The NCAA was not alone in showing its displeasure, as the PAC-12 Conference also released a statement that same day. 

“The Pac-12 is disappointed in the passage of SB 206 and believes it will have very significant negative consequences for our student-athletes and broader universities in California” the statement reads. “Our universities have led important student-athlete reform over the past years, but firmly believe all reforms must treat our student-athletes as students pursuing an education, and not as professional athletes. We will work with our universities to determine next steps and ensure continuing support for our student-athletes.”

From now until the time the law goes into effect in 2023, California and the NCAA will have to work together to reach a consensus on how to move forward. The NCAA might get to a point where it will have no choice but to succumb to the pressure and change its own rules, as several other state legislatures have recently introduced, or plan to introduce, similar legislation dealing with student-athlete compensation. As of Oct. 2, this total is up to as many as nine states, including Pennsylvania and New York, according to Sports Illustrated. Florida Representative Kionne McGhee (D) filed a bill shortly after SB 206 was announced. If passed, the bill would go into effect July 1, 2020, which is currently the soonest date of any state.

Although 2023 is still a ways away, recruitment of student-athletes can begin years before they enroll in the school. The fear of the NCAA is that California now has a greater advantage and, starting in 2023, will attract the best recruits in the country who want to get paid.

Every major change has its beginnings. For Fair Pay to Play, it seems to have its beginning in the state of California.

Written by: Omar Navarro  — sports@theaggie.org

UC Davis drops third straight in 38-36 road loss

The UC Davis football team lost its third consecutive game and fell to 0-2 in Big Sky play with Saturday’s 38-36 gut-wrenching loss at North Dakota. 

The Aggies battled back from a forgetful first half performance that put them behind 28-14 at the break, and came within seconds of walking out of the indoor Alerus Center in Grand Forks, ND with their first conference victory of the season. There was no shortage of drama in the final few minutes, but the visitors came up painfully short. 

“I was really proud of the resolve we showed, and I really enjoyed our temperament, togetherness, and patience despite not starting well,” said UC Davis head coach Dan Hawkins. “We just battled and were a little more of ourselves in this game than the previous game. I was happy that we returned to that level.”

Saturday’s loss drops the Aggies’ record to 2-4 on the season and puts them in the cellar of the Big Sky conference, along with two other teams also winless in conference play. But it was a far cry from last week’s 45-20 drubbing at home to Montana, a game in which Hawkins thought his team “got cautious, played tight and stopped smiling or having fun.”

With just over five minutes remaining in regulation and the Aggies trailing 35-28, senior quarterback Jake Maier led the offense down the length of the field and orchestrated a 10-play, 80-yard scoring drive. Faced with a 4th-and-goal situation from the 2-yard line, Maier tossed up a jump ball to senior tight end Wes Preece, who outmuscled the defender in front of him and leaped up to make the catch in the corner of the end zone. 

To nobody’s surprise, UC Davis head coach Dan Hawkins elected to attempt a two-point conversion instead of settling for the game-tying extra point with 2:06 left in the fourth quarter.

On the two-point try, Maier ran a play-action fake and rolled out to his right before finding junior wide receiver Khris Vaughn open in the back of the end zone, giving UC Davis its first lead of the day, 36-35.

A costly mistake on the ensuing kickoff, which landed out-of-bounds, gave the Fighting Hawks good field position and a head start on their eight-play drive into field goal range. With 57 seconds left on the clock, North Dakota nailed a go-ahead 46-yard field goal.

With all three timeouts still remaining, UC Davis had a legitimate opportunity to drive down the field and set up a game-winning field goal attempt. A pair of 17-yard completions to sophomore running back Ulonzo Gilliam and Preece got the drive up and running, and it looked like the Aggies would give senior kicker Max O’Rourke a makeable field goal attempt well within his range.

Then, at the worst possible moment, a pair of damaging penalties pushed UC Davis completely out of field goal range. On a manageable third-and-four play from the North Dakota 30-yard line, the Aggies were called for a false start, setting up a longer third down attempt that they failed to convert.

O’Rourke trotted out to attempt a career-long 52-yard field goal, but the kick was blocked by North Dakota amidst penalty flags and a whistle from the referee, who called a “delay of game” penalty on UC Davis. Subsequently, the Aggies had no choice but to bring the offense back on the field for a lengthy fourth-and-14 situation, where Maier’s pass fell incomplete to end the game. 

In his weekly press conference on Monday, Hawkins took the blame for mishandling the situation and failing to make a definitive decision on whether to attempt a field goal or keep the offense on the field. Normally, senior kickoff specialist Matt Blair is the go-to guy for long field goals beyond O’Rourke’s range, but Blair was unavailable at the time due to an injury to his holder, sophomore wide receiver Carson Crawford.

UC Davis looked like a completely different football team in the second half, compared to the first 30 minutes of play where the Aggies were outgained 381-176 in total yards of offense. But the Aggies refused to give up easily and seemed determined to atone for their early struggles in all three phases of the game. 

The UC Davis defense completely flipped the script in the second half, showing a renewed confidence and continually forcing the North Dakota offense off the field in a flash. With the exception of the home team’s final game-winning drive, North Dakota never possessed the ball for more than six plays, giving the Aggie offense ample time to mount a comeback. 

“The thing that pleased me the most was our approach to it,” Hawkins said. “They were communicating, talking and problem solving. We know its a long game and we can score points, so don’t panic and just hang in there. Our approach was much better than the week before.”

Unfortunately, costly penalties and a few more uncharacteristic turnovers — a common theme in last week’s blowout loss to Montana — doomed the Aggie offense at the end of the day.

Preece simply could not be guarded in the third and fourth quarters, hauling in all three Aggie touchdowns and using his sizable frame to create separation downfield and break free from defenders. 

The Aggies received the opening kickoff of the second half and instantly found paydirt three plays later, thanks to a 40-yard catch by freshman tight end Blake Thorpe and a wide-open 31-yard touchdown pass to Preece. 

Midway through the third quarter, UC Davis turned the ball over for the first time when a quick screen pass slipped through the hands of freshman wide receiver Orlando Ornelas and right to a North Dakota defender. The Fighting Hawks only had to march 13 yards to tack on another seven points, extending the lead to 35-21.  

Early in the fourth quarter, senior linebacker Eric Flowers came up with a clutch interception, setting up the offense in enemy territory with a great opportunity to tie the score. On the very next play, Maier noticed single coverage downfield and took a deep shot to the end zone, but was picked off by a diving North Dakota defender. 

The Davis defense did its job and forced a quick three-and-out, but Maier was picked off again on the next drive. On a long 4th-and-14 inside Fighting Hawk territory, Hawkins opted to go for it instead of punting, so Maier desperately heaved an ugly interception that was returned 58 yards to the Aggie 21-yard line.

Once again, the defense rose to the occasion and quickly forced a missed 37-yard field goal, paving the way for the late go-ahead touchdown drive. 

Through the first six games of the season, Maier has already thrown nine interceptions, which is one shy of his season-long totals in both 2017 and 2018. Most of the turnovers have come in tough road environments, as Maier fired two interceptions at San Diego and three more at North Dakota State.

“I don’t think he’s a guy that’s blatantly careless with the ball,” Hawkins said. “He’s had some errant interceptions the last few weeks, but also some that are not always his fault. It’s going to happen when you throw the ball as much as we do.”

The senior signal caller had to operate without star junior wide receiver Jared Harrell, who’s been sidelined with injuries the past two weeks, as well as junior running back Tehran Thomas who did not play on Saturday. 

Nonetheless, Maier still threw for over 350 yards and four touchdowns, connecting with 11 different receivers and making enough plays to put his team in a position to win. He leaned on one of his favorite targets, Crawford, who led the team with five receptions and 88 yards before leaving with a shoulder injury.

For a second consecutive game, UC Davis was unable to establish an effective rushing attack, managing just 3.1 yards per carry on 26 attempts. Gilliam scored on a two-yard touchdown run in the first half, but was largely contained by the North Dakota defense for most of the afternoon. 

On the flip side, the Aggie defense continued its struggles in stopping the run, yielding 187 yards and 5.3 yards per attempt. UC Davis has given up at least 174 yards on the ground in five of the first six games. Improving in this area of the game will be a major point of emphasis for the team as it moves forward into the rest of the Big Sky schedule. 

The Ags will have their hands full with next week’s opponent, Cal Poly, who utilizes a run-first offense that’s averaging over 255 rushing yards per game.

A pair of long flights to North Dakota in the past three weeks have surely taken some sort of toll on the players, whether they want to admit it or not. The Aggies undoubtedly have to play better and clean up the mistakes, but this year’s schedule has done them no favors. 

“It’s amazing how every game has been something different — how we travel, where we travel, the weather, inside or outside, night or day,” Hawkins said. “But that’s also life. As you looked at the schedule before it played out, you knew it would be a tough battle every week.”

Fortunately for UC Davis, the team only has one more long flight remaining, a trip to face Southern Utah in two weeks. The Aggies will be glad to return home to UC Davis Health Stadium this Saturday for a rivalry showdown against Cal Poly, with the Golden Horseshoe trophy on the line.

After that, the only road travels remaining are a pair of short journeys to Portland State and Sacramento State. 

With two conference losses already, UC Davis has put itself in an extremely tough position to defend its Big Sky title. In the past 13 years, the winner of the conference has never lost more than one league contest.

“Do we have the capability of going to the National Championship? Yes, we do,” Hawkins said. “But it’s not that far of a drop to that next rung. We shouldn’t really be battling expectations or rankings. It should just be getting up and being the best version of ourselves.”

Regardless, there will be more than enough opportunities for redemption in these final two months of the season, when UC Davis hosts top contenders Montana State and Weber State and travels to Sacramento State.  A total of four Big Sky teams made the FCS playoffs last year, including three in the top eight, so a second consecutive playoff berth is not out of the realm of possibilities for UC Davis.

“Other than the Montana game, I’ve been really pleased with how our guys are playing, fighting and battling,” Hawkins said. “We’ve been playing good football against good football teams, so it just comes down to that slim margin of error.”

The Aggies still control their own destiny and have time on their side, but the team must start piling up wins in a hurry if they want to save their season.

Written by: Brendan Ogburn — sports@theaggie.org