The Abridged version:
- UC Davis has decided to downgrade its equestrian program from an NCAA varsity team to a club team, the university announced Friday.
- Stunt, a competitive cheerleading sport, will replace equestrian as an NCAA program at Davis.
- Officials said the move will expand competitive opportunities for women, but members of the equestrian community are opposed.
Equestrian will no longer be a varsity sport at UC Davis starting this summer, upending many young athletes’ dreams.
The university’s athletic department last week announced that the storied program will move down from an NCAA sport to a club sport, effectively pulling official school sponsorship from the team. Stunt, a fast growing, head-to-head cheerleading competition, will take equestrian’s place.
The move, which officials said will offer more competitive opportunities for women, has been met with opposition from many in the equestrian community.
“High level equestrian sports are an integral part of the culture and tradition of UC Davis,” said a commenter on an online petition that garnered more than 14,000 signatures in the days following the announcement.
“This team is not just a line item or a replaceable program, it’s years of early mornings, quiet barns before sunrise and students giving everything they have to balance school, responsibility and a sport they love,” another said.
Rachel Cervantes said her 12-year-old daughter Amaya started competing at a young age and had already set her heart on UC Davis after touring the school.
“It was her dream to come here,” Cervantes said Wednesday, while crying.
“It sucks that they’re doing this,” she added. “This is an agricultural school.”
Incoming students face uncertainty and ‘heartbreak’
Some high school seniors are reevaluating their admission in light of the recent announcement.
Joel Whidden’s daughter Emma, a current high school senior from Westport, Connecticut, was set to join the team — until they received the news last week.
“It was a dream crushed,” Joel Whidden said.
That heartbreak was compounded then, he said, when Emma had to scramble to figure out a backup plan. The chance of her attending UC Davis without a team to ride with is low, according to her father. But now, Emma and any other girls reconsidering their commitments to UC Davis will be vying for a dwindling number of spots elsewhere.
“It was unneeded stress in the way they chose to handle it,” Joel Whidden said.
In a Facebook group for parents of students about to start college, the mother of Ohio equestrian Rayna Fritsch shared that her daughter had accepted a spot on the UC Davis team but may be starting over as well.
Expansion and competition
The university announced the decision in a news release Friday but did not respond to a list of follow-up questions from Abridged.
In the release, officials noted that UC Davis is one of 14 Division I schools that sponsor dual-discipline equestrian, a sport that has been classified as an NCAA Emerging Sport since 1998 and has a limited pathway to expansion.
Stunt, which came through the NCAA’s Emerging Sports for Women program, was recently recommended for championship status with the intercollegiate organization. According to the release, that means it will have a “more stable regional and nationally aligned competitive structure.”
Other California schools, including Cal Poly and University of the Pacific, have recently established NCAA Division I stunt programs.
Stunt has yet to officially receive championship status, however. In order for that to happen, all three divisions will vote on its approval at the NCAA Convention this week.
Equestrian will remain a varsity sport through the 2025-2026 academic year and current athletics-related financial aid commitments for athletes will be honored.
Daniel Hennessy joins Abridged from the California Local News Fellowship. He’s a reporter covering Yolo County.