How Auburn freshman phenom Caroline Olsen, a national Rider of the Year, bounced back to help push Auburn to the NCEA semifinals
Caroline Olsen fell during her ride over Fences in Thursday's national quarterfinals. Here's how the resilient freshman got back up to win on the Flat — and help push the Tigers to the semifinals.
Caroline Olsen bounced right back.
After a fall during her ride over Fences on Thursday in the national quarterfinals, Auburn’s freshman later responded with a win on the Flat — scoring a point-winning 82, which was part of a 5-0 sweep for Auburn on the Flat, and part of a furious rally for the Tigers to punch their ticket to the national semifinals.
Top-seeded Auburn beat Fresno State 14-4 on Thursday in the quarters. The Tigers advance to face fourth-seeded South Carolina today as the NCEA Championship rolls on in Ocala, Fla. But while the quarterfinals ended in a blowout, Auburn’s match with Fresno State was a 4-4 battle through two events. That’s when Olsen had her setback.
Auburn mustered just two points out of Fences. Olsen and the horse assigned to her, Cheeta, blew through a fence late in the ride and Olsen actually tumbled off the horse and onto the arena floor. She got no score for the ride. The horse was having a rough one — Fresno State’s rider on Cheeta also fell off the horse, meaning neither team got a point on that horse — but at the time, things were looking dicey for Auburn, and it appeared Auburn could be one-and-done yet again at the NCEA Championship for the third consecutive season.
But not with riders like Olsen proving to make a difference as a newcomer.
“It was a little bit tight at the beginning and we had a few things in the first half that we had to bounce back from,” Auburn head coach Jessica Braswell said in Ocala, per a release from the university. “I think we just started a touch nervous , but we got through it to get to the second half and really performed well.”
It was Olsen’s 10th win of the season on Flat. She has another 10 wins under her belt over Fences, and has been named NCEA Fences Rider of the Year. Here’s what Olsen has had to say about her first season on the Plains, and a look at how it has gone for Auburn’s freshman phenom: