Staff
Jessica Braswell Equestrian Camps, Clincs, and Academy has an incredible staff with years of experience coaching and competing at the Division I level. Our coaches have also developed and competed in the equestrian industry. We aim to provide a fun and safe learning enviornment
Jessica Braswell
Owner- Braslane Equine LLC
Auburn Equestrian Head Coach
Jessica Braswell is in her second season as the head coach of Auburn equestrian and her 14th overall with the program. Prior to 2023-24, Braswell spent 12 years overseeing the jumping seat discipline.
In her first year as head coach, Braswell guided the Tigers to their sixth-straight Southeastern Conference title and saw seven student-athletes total eight All-American honors. In addition, Ava Stearns secured NCEA Flat Rider of the Year, while Isabella Tesmer was named SEC Reining Rider of the Year and Sophee Steckbeck took SEC Fences Rider of the Year.
In addition, Braswell was named SEC Co-Head Coach of the Year for her team’s performance in 2023-24.
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Away from competition, Auburn also exceled in the classroom. The team totaled 10 NCEA All-Academic honors and 22 NCEA Academic Honor Roll awards. In addition, 37 student-athletes earned SEC Academic Honor Roll or SEC First-Year Academic Honor Roll honors.
Prior to her role as head of the program, Braswell found a lot of success with the Tigers as the jumping seat coach for 12 seasons.
While in that position, Braswell coached five NCEA Riders of the Year, nine SEC Riders of the Year and seven SEC Freshman Riders of the Year.
Under her guidance, the Auburn jumping seat program has totaled 61 All-America nods and 60 All-SEC recognitions. During the 2018-2019 season all six jumping seat competitors – Ashton Alexander, Caitlin Boyle, Hayley Iannotti, Emma Kurtz, McKayla Langmeier, and Taylor St. Jacques – were NCEA All-Americans in both Flat and Fences.
In 2022-23, Braswell was named the NCEA Jumping Seat Coach of the Year after another successful season with the equestrian program. Braswell was named the NCEA Coach of the Year in 2016.
Braswell graduated from Auburn in 2009 with a double major in Agricultural Business & Economics and Spanish International Trade. She decided to remain at Auburn and pursue a graduate degree in which she graduated in December 2010 with a Master of Business Administration.
While at Auburn, Braswell was a member of the equestrian team from 2005-2009. She helped lead the team to an overall national championship in 2006 and a hunt seat national championship in 2008. She was a four-time member of the SEC academic honor roll and the 2009 Auburn Female Scholar Athlete of the Year. She continued to be a part of the equestrian program during graduate school as the first Equestrian Director of Operations.
Greg Williams
Auburn Equestrian Head Coach Emeritus
With six NCEA overall national championships at Auburn, head equestrian coach Greg Williams has become one of the most respected coaches in the sport. Williams started the equestrian program at Auburn in 1996 and elevated it to Auburn's 21st varsity sport during the 2002-2003 season. A year after becoming a varsity sport, Williams' Tigers upset the competition to become the 2004 Southern Equestrian Champions - the first championship in the program's history. That same year, Williams led Auburn to an incredible runner-up finish at the Varsity Equestrian Championships. The 2005-06 season was one for the record books as the program rode to its first Varsity Equestrian National Championship.
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Since the 2002-03 season, the Tigers have totaled six national titles (2006, 2011, 2013, 2016, 2018, 2019), five Hunt Seat national titles (2008, 2011, 2013, 2018, 2019), one Western national title (2018), seven Southeastern Conference titles (2016, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024), and three Southern Equestrian championships (2004, 2010, 2011). His student-athletes have combined for 113 All-America accolades since the 2010-11 season and have totaled 130 All-SEC and Freshman All-SEC selections.
In addition to excelling in competition, Williams' teams have also produced in the classroom. Auburn has 97 NCEA Scholastic All-Americans since the organization began recognizing the honor in the spring of 2013.
Individually, Williams has been named the SEC Coach of the Year four times (2019, 2020, 2021, 2022) and NCEA Coach of the Year twice (2019, 2020).
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Williams graduated from Auburn University with a bachelor's degree in Animal Sciences in 1986.
His career in the horse industry began at a young age as he showed horses and competed in rodeos. His mother also competed, passing on her passion for horses to Williams.
Williams' beginning years as a professional were spent in the South and the Southwest, training pleasure horses as well as cutting, haltering and roping horses. These horses were shown at Futurities, Congress and World shows. He began his work at Auburn, running the Horse Teaching and Researching Unit. He also continued his professional showing career during his first years back.
Mary Meneely
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Auburn Equestrian Associate Head Coach
Mary Meneely returned to the Auburn equestrian coaching staff in May 2024 as associate head coach, serving as Western coach for the Tigers.
Meneely was on the Auburn staff for seven seasons from 2015-16 through 2021-22. While at Auburn, she helped the Tigers win three national titles (2016, 2018, 2019) and five Southeastern Conference championships (2016, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022).
Meneely coached her student-athletes to 31 NCEA All-America honors. She guided Searles to two NCEA Horsemanship Rider of the Year honors (2019, 2022) as well as Deanna Green to the same award in 2020.
At the conference level, Meneely coached her riders to eight SEC Rider of the Year honors – five in Horsemanship and three in Reining. Her student-athletes totaled 15 All-SEC recognitions in Horsemanship and 11 in Reining and she had eight SEC Freshman Riders of the Year during her time on the Plains.
In addition, Meneely was a part of the Auburn staff that led the team to two undefeated seasons – 2018-19 and 2019-20.
During her two years away from the Plains, Meneely ran Coach Mary Meneely Consulting. The program provided mentoring and expert guidance to youth riders looking to compete in college by delivering top-tier coaching, clinics and lessons.
Prior to her first stint with Auburn, she was a member of the Georgia equestrian coaching staff. She was first named assistant coach in 2010 and was promoted to associate head coach in March 2013. With the Bulldogs, she helped the program win two national championships and three reserve national championships.
Emma Kurtz
Auburn Equestrian Assistant Coach
After a successful career as a student-athlete with the Auburn equestrian team, Emma Kurtz joined the staff as an assistant coach in May 2023.
Kurtz serves as Jumping Seat coach for the Tigers and kicked off her coaching career with a great season in 2023-24. As part of the staff, she helped the Tigers win their sixth-straight SEC title in 2024.
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She coached Ava Stearns to the NCEA Flat Rider of the Year and Sophee Steckbeck to the SEC Fences Rider of the Year. Avery Glynn was named the SEC Freshman Flat Rider of the Year.
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The Tigers garnered four All-America honors in 2024 under Kurtz’s guidance and finished with six All-SEC and SEC All-Freshman recognitions.
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A member of the team from 2018-23, Kurtz was a part of many major moments for the Tigers. She played a big role in Auburn’s first of two undefeated seasons as a freshman in 2019 and helped the team win its second-straight national title. In addition, Auburn won both Jumping Seat and Flat national crowns that season.
Kurtz was also a part of Auburn’s five-straight Southeastern Conference championships (2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023).
Individually, Kurtz finished her time as a student-athlete with eight All-America honors. That total is the most by any Tiger in program history. In addition, she is a six-time All-SEC honoree. She was named the 2022 SEC Fences Rider of the Year and concluded her career tied for first in program history with 57 career wins in Fences. Her 48 career wins in Flat is tied for second most.
Kurtz earned her degree in finance in May 2022 and finished her Master of Business Administration in December 2023.
Caroline Becker
Auburn IHSA Equestrian Coach
Academy Instructor
Coach Becker grew up on a horse farm in New Jersey, where her mom was a professional horse trainer. She had a successful junior career qualifying and competing at major finals such as USEF Medal Finals, USET Finals East, and Maclay Finals. Coach Becker was a member of Auburn’s Equestrian Team from 2013-2017, where she won both SEC and National Championships. Upon graduation, Coach Becker worked as the Graduate Assistant for the Oklahoma State Equestrian Team while earning her MBA. She has since returned to Auburn where she is the Head Coach of the IHSA Equestrian Team. Coach Becker has a wealth of experience riding at the highest level and teaching all different levels of riders.
Morgan Dyck
Auburn Equestrian Director of Operations
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Morgan Dyck is in her 7th season as the Director of Operations for Auburn Equestrian. She is a 2016 graduate of Auburn University with a degree in Dyck was a member of the equestrian team from 2012-2016, winning two national championships and an SEC championship as a student-athlete. Dyck has been an instructor for camps and clinics during her time as a student-athlete and since returning to Auburn as the Director of Operations.
Katie Renfroe
Auburn Equestrian Barn Manager
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Katie Renfroe is in her 7th season as the Auburn Equestrian Barn Manager. Renfroe cares for and manages 55-60 head of horses, ensuring they are ready for practices, meets and teaching labs with the College of Agriculture. Renfroe began her career as a student worker at the equestrian center during her time at Auburn and then returned as an intern before becoming the full time manager.
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Karen Stanton
Auburn Equestrian Athletic Trainer
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A native of Georgia, Karen Straub Stanton is a 1998 graduate of the University of Georgia where she earned a Bachelor of Science in Exercise and Sport Science and her NATA BOC certification. She went on to earn her Masters of Sports Health Care from what is now known as A.T. Still University (formerly Arizona School of Health Sciences). While in Arizona, she earned the National Strength and Conditioning Association's Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist certification and completed her training as an EMT-Basic. She completed her doctorate in Higher Education Administration from Auburn in May 2019 with her final dissertation, “Financial Management of Medical Care Expenses of Student-Athletes in Institutions of Higher Education”.
Following Arizona, she managed an outreach program for high schools and special event programing in the New Orleans area, including teaching a basic course in athletic training at 2 of local high schools. She came to Alabama in 2001 as the Assistant Athletic Trainer for the University of West Alabama, with clinical assignments football, baseball, and softball in conjunction to overseeing other varsity spots and teaching in the education program. She quickly earned the position as Associate Athletic Trainer/ Clinical Coordinator. While at UWA, she was named Alabama Athletic Trainers’ Association (ALATA) Collegiate Athletic Trainer of the Year in 2004.
In fall of 2005, she began her position at Auburn University as an Assistant Athletic Trainer with primary responsibility of the football team. Since that time, she has served the student athletes and the department in the positions of physician extender, volleyball, and, currently, the equestrian team. In 2011, she was distinguished with the ALATA Award of Merit and then again in 2014 for her service to the profession of athletic training and the athletes they advocate for.
Karen recently was selected as the Alabama Athletic Trainers' Association 2020 Hall of Fame inductee.
Karen is married to Nate Stanton. The couple and their three children, Ezra, Kalynn and Noah, reside in Auburn.
Erica Farrell
Camp Director
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Carolyn Williams
Camp Administrator
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