NEWS

After tournaments at County Line Polo Club in Kyle, Texas, and Legend's Horse Ranch in Kaufman, Texas, the final leg of the Texas Arena League (TAL) was played at the Midland Polo Club in Midland, Texas. Ten teams competed in the 0- to 3-goal flight and seven teams competed in the 3- to 6-goal flight. Teams have been competing at multiple locations to garner points toward the final awards.

Amongst the matches in Midland in the 0- to 3-goal, Midland Polo Club (Brady Williams, Leigh Fulkerson, Ashley Owens) defeated Legend's Polo Club (Lara Semmelmann, Steve Gilchrist, Nacho Estrada) in the Southwestern Circuit Arena Amateur Cup and Santa Elena Minerals (Cara Kennedy, Joanie Jackson, Carter Nix) defeated San Antonio Polo Club (Molly Musselman Smith, Gal Sweiki, Patrick MacLeod) in the Southwestern Circuit Arena Admiral Chester Nimitz military tournament. Additional teams in the 0- to 3-goal were Prevalecer (Megan Flynn, Louisa Fikes, Jordan Williams), Texas Tech (Ashley Caines, Jair De La Pena, Cole Easterling), Midland I/I (April Galindo, Avery Evans, Madi Lange) and County Line Two (John Hand, Mark Osburn, Ryan Owen).

In the 3- to 6-goal, Legend's Polo Club (Wyatt Myr, Steve Gilchrist, Nacho Estrada) took home honors in the Southwestern Circuit Arena Challenge Cup defeating San Antonio (Ursula Pari, Jack Crea, Gal Sweiki, Patrick MacLeod) and Midland (Brady Williams, Ernesto Natividad, Leigh Fulkerson). Meanwhile Central Texas Polo Association (CTPA) (Karl Hilberg, Cody Goetz, Taylor Morris) conquered Texas Tech Alumni (Walker Rainey, John Hand, Dallas Taylor) in the Southwestern Circuit General Lewis B. “Chesty” Puller military tournament.

The finals in the 0- to 3-goal were between CTPA (Loreto Natividad, Taylor Morris, Lauren Platt) and County Line One (Drew Richardson, Zain Saud, Oscar Bermudez Jr). CTPA took home the game win, the league win and the trophy buckles in the 0- to 3-goal flight. County Line One were the Texas Arena League 0-3 runners-up. Loreto Natividad won League Most Valuable Player honors in the 0- to 3-goal division. John Hand's horse, Maria, was named League Best Paying Pony and Hand also won the Sportsmanship Award.

Prevalecer (Megan Flynn, Ashley Owen, Loreto Natividad) challenged County Line (Seth Bray, Drew Richardson, Zain Saud) in the finals of the 3- to 6-goal. Prevalecer ultimately won the match which was also played as a USPA I/I Alumni tournament with Texas Tech, UT and Midland Interscholastic represented amongst the players. With the win, Prevalecer also took home Texas Arena League winner belt buckles. There was a three-way point tie for League runners-up between Central Texas Polo, Legend's and County Line, and after going to net goals, County Line was named TAL 3- to 6-goal runners-up. Wyatt Myr won League Most Valuable Player honors and a fabulous handmade knife from Brian Weaver. Megan Flynn's horse, Awesome Sauce, won 3- to 6-goal Best Playing Pony and Brady Williams was honored with the Sportsmanship Award.

Players who competed in Texas Arena League voted for Best Host Club which was awarded to Midland Polo Club.

Texas Arena League was made possible through support from the USPA Arena Committee, Services department, Tournaments, Marketing and USPA Umpires, LLC. Thank you to all of the volunteers, host sites and players who made TAL such a successful endeavor in its first year. Organizers are looking forward to an even better 2019.