Westmont Polo Takes Second at Nationals

The Westmont Men’s Club Polo Team came up just short in its unexpected quest for a national championship Saturday night. Westmont lost 12-8 to Texas A&M in the finals in the U.S. Polo Association National Intercollegiate Championship at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, Ky.

Team members are Ryan Cronin-Prather, a senior from Modesto, Collin White, a freshman from Napa, and Alex de La Torre Bueno, a freshman from Ojai.

Westmont defeated teams from Cornell University and the University of Virginia to reach the finals in Kentucky.

“There were several memorable moments,” White says. “Cornell we beat with one second left and against UVA, we beat them in a shoot-out after a tie at the end of regulation.”

In regional competition, Westmont defeated Stanford University, UC Davis and the University of Southern California.

Westmont’s men’s polo team began six years ago as a club sport, but was unable to field a team last year.

White and Cronin-Prather played together when they were both in high school. White says he met Bueno a year ago and encouraged him to attend Westmont.

This year’s team practiced with Coach John Westley Tuesday through Saturday at the Santa Barbara Polo & Racquet Club and played games on Sundays.

When practicing and competing locally, the team borrowed horses from the Santa Barbara International Polo Training Center. But they were unable to bring the horses to the finals in Kentucky and were forced to borrow horses there.

“There’s nothing like riding your own horse,” says White. “I can usually spend three or four minutes before the chukker begins and get a feel for the horse, but it definitely made a difference especially when we played against Texas A&M.”

The final game against Texas A&M is expected to be broadcast on ESPN 2 in June.

“Schools like Cornell and UVA have huge funding for their polo programs,” White says. “All their players have scholarships and Westmont doesn’t have anything like that. UVA has over 30 players and 60 horses, yet we were still able to go out and beat them.”