The Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, Kentucky, was abuzz with polo activity the first week in April, when nine collegiate teams came together from around the United States to compete in the National Intercollegiate Championships.

The road to the National Championship began with tournament play in the five regions—Northeast, Southeast, Central, Northwest and West—in March. Regularseason games are played throughout the school year and used for seeding the regional tournaments. The regional winners advance to the National Intercollegiate Championships. Twenty-seven women’s and 21 men’s collegiate teams competed this season. In the end, the University of Connecticut women and the Texas A&M men emerged victorious for the second year.

As final preparations were getting underway for the championships, one school scheduled to ship several strings of horses for the event learned many of its horses had come down with equine influenza. To give the horses plenty of time to recover, organizers frantically went to work finding other horses to replace them. Their efforts paid off, and enough horses were secured to allow the nationalchampionship show to go on. The University of Kentucky, the University of Louisville, the University of Connecticut, Texas Christian University, Texas A&M and Cornell all sent horses. Mount Brilliant Farm generously donated money to help pay the cost of shipping the horses. David Cummings provided umpire horses.

Once the teams and horses arrived, the clouds began to roll in, making the 50- degree temperatures feel damp and even colder. Forecasters were calling for heavy rains the rest of the week, but neither rain, sleet nor snow could stop these students from doing what they love best. The enclosed arena at the Kentucky Horse Park allowed everyone to stay dry during the matches. The challenge was for the kids to stay dry getting the horses from the barns to the arena. The weather certainly didn’t slow the action. However, an excessive amount of footing in the arena, left over from a previous event, slowed the play during the first few games. Polo officials met with park officials to have some of the footing removed, which helped tremendously for the later games.

In the women’s division, the first game pitted No. 4-seeded Santa Barbara City College against No. 5-seeded Oregon State University. Twelve goals by SBCC’s Danielle Travis led her team to victory, 15-12.

The first of the women’s semifinal games was between the University of Virginia and Texas Christian University. Play was even in the first period, but TCU’s 5 goals to none in the second gave TCU the lead. UVA came back strong in the fourth but was unable to overcome the deficit. TCU won 10-8, earning them a spot in the final for the first time in team history.

SBCC faced the No. 1-seeded University of Connecticut in the second semifinal match. SBCC played strong but was unable to contain the balanced strength of UConn. Ten goals by UConn’s Kelly Wisner helped tally a final score of 24-5.

The women’s final put TCU up against the favored UConn squad. Despite a new lineup this year, UConn has soundly defeated all opponents throughout the season. UConn jumped ahead in the first, showing strength by narrowly missing two two-point shots in the large arena. UConn entered the second chukker with a 5-2 lead over TCU. TCU tallied four goals in the second to UConn’s five, ending the half with UConn leading 10-6. TCU came back strong in the third. Fouls committed by UConn gave TCU the opportunity to convert penalty shots. K.C. Beal was on the mark three times to get the score within three. The fourth chukker belonged to UConn, outscoring TCU 5 to 2, ending the game 19-13. If UConn was a well-oiled machine, Beal was a one-woman wrecking crew that helped keep her team in the game. Beal led all scorers with 10, while Lizzie Wisner scored 8 for UConn.

This is UConn’s fourth national victory in as many years.

UConn sisters Kelly and Lizzie Wisner were named to the national all-star team, which was voted on by their peers. Taking the other two all-star spots were Beal of Texas Christian University and Lila Gaines of the University of Virginia. Gaines was also selected as the Connie Upchurch Memorial Sportsmanship Award winner in the women’s division for the second year in a row. The TCU team’s Cha Cha was named best playing pony.

The first of the men’s games looked like it would be a walk away for the University of Virginia. UVA’s quickness over Cornell University gave it an 11-6 lead at the half with momentum going into the third. A halftime talk by coach David Eldredge gave Cornell the inspiration to make an exciting comeback in the third and fourth chukkers. Cornell’s Bobby Harvey’s 11 goals helped get the 16-15 edge over UVA.

The second men’s semifinal pitted No. 1 seed Texas A&M against Western regional winner, Westmont. These teams played in the final in 2007, but both had seniors graduate last year. Westmont played strong, but A&M’s flawless team work and 11 goals by Steve Krueger gave it the win, 23-9.

Texas A&M entered the final men’s game having beaten opponents in its region by eight-goal margins and was favored to win the NIC. Cornell played great polo, but the team was overwhelmed by A&M’s strength. A&M won every chukker, and a two-point shot by high-scorer Steve Krueger in the last widened the margin of victory to 10 goals. A&M defended its title as national champions, with a final score of 20-10.

Krueger was selected as a national all star, along with Virginia’s Chevy Beh, Cornell’s Max Constant and Collin White of Westmount College. The Connie Upchurch Memorial Sportsmanship award winner for the men’s division was the University of Virginia’s Strother Scott. Best playing pony honors went to Cornell University’s Rosa.

Umpires Steve Lane, Matt Syme and Andrew Flint officiated games. Tony Coppola took time out of the Florida highgoal games to announce the NIC final matches. USPA Chairman Tom Biddle and Executive Director Peter Rizzo, along with Intercollegiate/Interscholastic Committee members Lynn Thompson and Dan Colhoun and co-chairmen Russ Sheldon and Bruce Wells, were on hand.

Social events were planned in between games to give the students a chance to unwind and get to know one another. The Lexington Polo Club put on a barbecue early in the week, and War Horse Farm sponsored a banquet the evening before the finals. Tours of Hagyard, a prestigious equine-veterinarian clinic; as well as Darley Farms, home of great stallions such as Street Sense and Bernardini, were also available to the students.

The students all chip in to help keep things running smoothly. When not playing, they tack playing and umpiring horses, groom for the others or line the arena, giving students the opportunity to learn all aspects of the game. It was a wonderful national event. The play and sportsmanship of all teams were exceptional and inspired pride.