The Cougars finished the fall with three top-three finishes, highlighted by a first-place finish at their home show, the CofC Invitational.

CofC Head Coach Bob Story said he thinks his team progressed throughout the early competitions.

"The team got better with each competition in the fall schedule," Story said. "We just made too many mistakes early in the season. As fewer mistakes were made our placing got better."

With 13 freshmen on the team there has been a learning curve of the athletes becoming comfortable in the college setting, a process Story said is going well.

"The freshmen are starting to understand how the IHSA system works and are improving with each show," he said. "I see that trend continuing throughout the spring as we push to win the Regional Championship."

The Cougars will look to get back to nationals this year, where they placed eighth last season. The first step is to win their Region, which starts against all of the schools from that region this weekend in Gainesville.

"The Florida show is an IHSA regular season show with all of the region schools competing," Story said. "The competition within the region gets better every year so the team has to be focused on their riding every time they enter the ring. The challenge is to be mistake free."