ECAC Champion Skyhawks Earn Spot In 2025 NCEA Championship Field
The 2025 National Collegiate Equestrian Association Championship bracket was unveiled today and the University of Tennessee at Martin was one of the eight teams chosen by the organization’s selection committee.
Three days after capturing their first-ever Eastern College Athletic Conference championship, the Skyhawks were assigned the No. 8 seed. UT Martin will take on two-time defending national champion and No. 1 seed SMU in the quarterfinals at 7:30 a.m. CT on Thursday, April 17 at the World Equestrian Center in Ocala, Fla.
In the other quarterfinal in the top-half of the bracket, No. 4 TCU will take on No. 5 South Carolina. On the opposite side of the bracket, No. 2 Auburn will battle No. 7 Georgia while No. 3 Oklahoma State collides against No. 6 Texas A&M. The semifinals are set for Saturday, April 18 while the championship meet will occur on Sunday, April 19.
For the fourth straight year, the NCEA Championship event will take place in Ocala, Fla. Named as one of Time Magazine’s 2024 World’s Greatest Places, the World Equestrian Center is the largest equestrian complex in the United States. The facility offers state-of-the-art arenas and luxury accommodations on more than 2,000 acres of land nestled in the Horse Capital of the World.
The 2025 tournament will mark the eighth national championship appearance for the Skyhawks and first in the current 10-team NCEA format. UT Martin qualified for the tournament in events-only in both 2019 and 2018 while also earning a spot in the 2015 and 2014 field, which featured 12-teams. The Skyhawks also made appearances in the 2009, 2008 and 2007 Varsity Equestrian National Championship tournaments, which additionally consisted of 12 teams competing in Jumping Seat and Western discipline head-to-head matchups.
Ranked No. 10 in the final national poll of the regular season two weeks ago, UT Martin undoubtedly made a favorable impression on the NCEA selection committee after capturing the ECAC Championship at the Ned McWherter Agricultural Complex on Saturday. The victory in the finals over two-time defending league champion UC Davis was the eighth of the season for the Skyhawks, equaling the 2021-22 squad for the most in program history.
Four-time ECAC Head Coach of the Year Kim Leiter-Janes has overseen a UT Martin squad that has been ranked in 41 consecutive sets of NCEA rankings dating back to March 7, 2023. The Skyhawks accumulated 140 head-to-head wins and 32 MOP’s over the course of 14 meets while also landing a school-record 10 All-ECAC honorees (including three Riders of the Year and one Freshman of the Year) in 2024-25. UT Martin also boasted 21 ECAC Riders of the Week, six ECAC Riders of the Month and one NCEA Rider of the Month this season.
More information on the 2025 NCEA Championship – including coverage links – will be released at a later date.
