United States Eventing Association

Aiken, S.C.—May 15— For most college seniors, graduation weekend is spent crossing a stage in cap and gown, celebrating years of hard work alongside classmates, friends, and family. But for a few members of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville Eventing Team, this year’s commencement ceremony was traded for something equally meaningful: representing their school at the 2026 USEA Intercollegiate Eventing Championship at Stable View/

“Our graduation is actually supposed to happen tomorrow at 2:30,” said team president Emma Claire Hagey. “We were supposed to be walking across the stage, but we just really enjoy being at champs and the whole atmosphere here. I always love getting to hang out with our team, so I’d much rather be here than walking.”

Hagey has spent all four years of her time in Knoxville on the team, which was founded in 2016 and found new life again in 2022 after a few quiet years. She’s one of three seniors this year onsite at Stable View for the championship event.

“Coming to champs has been my goal all year, so when we found out it was the same weekend, it wasn’t even a question,” said fellow senior Amelia Fortson.

Four years ago, when UT senior Livy Muntz was a freshman, the university placed all 6,000 incoming students into an online group where they could meet classmates and search for roommates. As Muntz was scrolling through the profiles, she saw an interesting line next to Hagey’s name that stopped her in her tracks.

“I scroll down, and I see this one girl, Emma Claire, who said, 'I'm an eventer,' and I immediately was like—this is going to be my roommate,” said Muntz with a laugh. “I messaged her that day, and I was like, 'Please room with me. I don't meet any eventers anywhere, it's so niche.' ”

It took Hagey three days to respond to Muntz, and in that time she was already talking to other potential roommate candidates, but once Hagey responded, she immediately switched gears. She roomed with Hagey, introduced her to the eventing team, and here they are—four years later—still roommates and skipping their college commencement together to do what they love most.

Stories like theirs are common among members of the Tennessee team, which has brought together riders from across the country through a shared love of eventing.

“I am from Maryland, and I grew up in a super horse-heavy area,” said sophomore Avery Kitchen. “I knew that I wanted to keep riding in college, but I came down to Tennessee my freshman year, and I felt like nobody there rode horses. I felt so out of place, like nobody knows what I'm talking about when I talk about all this horse stuff.”

Then, Kitchen found the eventing team, and everything changed.

“It's just so special to have people who actually know what you're talking about and you have this really cool commonality with. It's so cool to share passions with people,” she continued. “Growing up, a lot of my friends were competing alongside me, but I think it's really awesome that, even though there's only four of us competing, that so many of us are here to support. That means a lot, and it's so much fun. I was out on cross-country earlier, and hearing everyone’s cheers was just so awesome.”

After leaving last year’s championships, incoming team president Sarah Smith created a note in her phone and began the preparations for this year.

“I was on the phone with Ava Gilliam and Elizabeth Borden, and we were chatting about all things champs, and we wrote down what we've been thinking about throughout the year. We really wanted to focus on the camaraderie aspect, since that is such a huge part of champs, and so we were thinking about stuff that we could do together,” said Smith.

They had a team get together where they made posters together to decorate their stalls with and that the competing team members could have as keepsakes after the event. They began planning for decorations and hosted fundraising events, but thanks to funding from the university, they were able to offset some of their championship expenses.

“What's really cool about Tennessee is they really want to support their clubs, especially their sports clubs,” said Muntz, who previously served as the team treasurer. “They offer a student organization travel fund, and so we get all of our entries covered by the University, and that is a long process that you have to apply for. That really helps get us more riders out here!”

The team currently has 17 active members, seven of which made the trip to Aiken for the weekend, including sophomore Ava Davis. Davis originally thought she would attend Baylor University, but then found a big snag in her plan.

“I chose to come to UT because I saw that Baylor didn't have an eventing team,” she said. “I grew up on a farm, so my entire life I've been riding, and I've done eventing—I found it through Pony Club. When I saw that UT had an eventing team I thought I'd join it. I found great friends through it, and it's crazy how the connections you can find just through Pony Club or through the people.”

Fortson found those connections to be so meaningful when coming to UT from out of state as a freshman.

“It was really hard when I first moved to Tennessee," she recalled. “I didn't bring a horse, so it was really hard finding ways to ride, and this team helped me out a lot with that. People would be like, 'You can come sit on my horse.' It helped me get time in the saddle, get connected with some trainers, and then got consistent lessons and found a lease horse, so it's just helped me a lot to get back into the horse world after moving states and also to have a great group of people to ride with.”

Fortson is heading off to Charleston, South Carolina, where she got a job as a veterinary technician at the Air Force base working with the primates at a biological research facility. The pre-vet major hopes to continue on with vet school. Hagey, also a pre-vet major, is following a similar track, and aspires to either obtain her Master’s degree or pursue vet school in the fall. Muntz will graduate with a biosystems engineering degree with a minor in nuclear engineering. She will be relocating to Aiken to work at the Savannah River Site at the mobile nuclear waste processing facility.

While their classmates walked across the graduation stage back in Knoxville, the members of the UT Eventing Team spent the weekend exactly where they wanted to be—together, representing their school, and making memories that may last far longer than a ceremony ever could.

Helpful Links:

• USEA Coverage of Championships

• Stable View Website

• Digital Championships Program

• Live Scores

• Ride Times

• Meet the 2026 Intercollegiate Eventing Championship Teams

• Meet the 2026 IEL Championship Teams

Don't forget to follow the USEA’s event coverage on social media!

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About the USEA Intercollegiate Eventing Program

The USEA Intercollegiate Eventing Program was established in 2014 to provide a framework within which eventing teams and individual competitors could flourish at universities and colleges across the country. Many events across the country offer Intercollegiate Team Challenges where collegiate eventers can compete individually or in teams with their fellow students. In Intercollegiate Team Challenges, each rider’s score is multiplied by a coefficient appropriate for their level to account for differences in level difficulty, and then the individual scores are added together to determine the team score. The USEA Intercollegiate Eventing Championship is a capstone event for the program, which is held annually in the spring. The 2026 USEA Intercollegiate & IEL Championships will be held at Stable View in Aiken, South Carolina, on May 15-17. Click here to learn more about the Intercollegiate Eventing Program.

The USEA would like to thank Bates Saddles, Gallagher’s Water, Kerrits, PulseVet, Schneiders Saddlery, Aiken Saddlery, AllStar Tents & Events, Horse & Country, Meybohm Realtors – Deirdre Stoker Vaillancourt, Powell Asset Protection Agency, Sidelines, U.S. Equestrian, Wendel Mobile Equine, WeRideTogether, World Equestrian Brands, Young Rider Magazine, and 100xEquine for sponsoring the USEA Intercollegiate Eventing Program.

About the USEA Interscholastic Eventing League (IEL)

In August 2020, the USEA Board of Governors approved the creation of the USEA Interscholastic Eventing League (IEL) as an official program of the USEA. The mission of IEL is to unite junior riders who are in the 5th—12th grade and provide a supportive community through which students can continue to pursue their riding interests. A group of junior members in the 5th—12th grade who share a common bond, such as the same barn, school, Pony Club, or other connection, can register with the USEA as an IEL Club. The 2026 USEA Intercollegiate & IEL Championships will be held at Stable View in Aiken, South Carolina, on May 15-17. Click here to learn more about the Interscholastic Eventing League.

The USEA would like to thank Bates Saddles, Gallagher’s Water, Kerrits, PulseVet, Schneiders Saddlery, Aiken Saddlery, AllStar Tents & Events, Horse & Country, Meybohm Realtors – Deirdre Stoker Vaillancourt, Powell Asset Protection Agency, Sidelines, U.S. Equestrian, Wendel Mobile Equine, WeRideTogether, World Equestrian Brands, Young Rider Magazine, and 100xEquine for sponsoring the USEA Intercollegiate Eventing Program.