WELLINGTON, Fla.—Texas A&M senior Maggie Earle (Fallbrook, Calif.) will represent the Aggies on Friday at the Winter Equestrian Festival’s third annual Collegiate Equitation Challenge.

Earle will match up against SMU’s Julianna Fischer in the first round, which gets underway at 2 p.m. (ET). A total of 16 riders will compete in the single-elimination, bracket format competition, which will wrap up later in the evening.

Earle is competing in the event for the second time in three seasons. She advanced to the semifinal round as a sophomore in 2010. The Aggies’ Brooke Coleman took home the title last year as a senior.

The event will be run in the National Collegiate Equestrian Association (formerly Varsity Equestrian) head-to-head format over an equitation course and will be formatted similar to postseason team tournaments in sports such as college basketball, volleyball and soccer.

The 16 competitors were chosen from collegiate equestrian programs across the country, with selections based upon individual national rankings. No more than one rider was selected from each school.

More information on the event can be found at www.collegiateequestrian.com and www.wellingtonwef.com.

THIRD ANNUAL WEF COLLEGIATE EQUITATION CHALLENGE
Friday, February 10 - Palm Beach Int'l Equestrian Ctr - Wellington, Fla.

FIRST ROUND MATCHUPS (2 pm ET):
Carly Anthony, Georgia vs Caroline Cramer, Tennessee-Martin
Samantha Elser, Oklahoma State vs Jennifer Waxman, Auburn
Abbie Britton, Sacred Heart vs Haley Jacobi, TCU
Santana Wright, South Dakota State vs Kimberly McCormack, South Carolina
Sarah Mershon, Kansas State vs Caroline Foltz, Delaware State
Hillary West, Fresno State vs Nellie Foosaner, Miami
Maggie Earle, Texas A&M vs Julianna Fisher, SMU
Amy Lang, New Mexico State vs Lisa Goldman, Baylor