Unbridled Determination

Story by Ryne Rickman | Photos by Arianne Boma

When the University of Tennessee at Martin rode into the pristine World Equestrian Center arena in the opening round of the 2025 National Collegiate Equestrian Athletic Championships in April, it was a season-long culmination of determination and dominance. It also served as a moment that few could have envisioned happening a little over a decade ago. In November 2014, it was announced that the Skyhawk equestrian team would be discontinued at the conclusion of the 2015-16 campaign. Current UT Martin head coach Kim Leiter-Janes – who was in her third month on the job as an assistant under Meghan Cunningham-Corvin – reflected on that decision when none of the team’s current success seemed plausible. 

“It was devastating,” said Leiter-Janes, who wrapped up her fifth season at the helm of the Skyhawk equestrian program in 2024-25. “I had just moved here from California, and this job is really what I wanted to do and where I wanted to be. After I came out of that meeting, we didn’t know what was going to happen and I wasn’t sure if I would stay past the end of that season.” 

Sixteen months later, UT Martin athletics underwent a change in leadership. An interim athletic director – women’s basketball head coach Kevin McMillan – joined interim Chancellor Dr. Bob Smith for a meeting. The message was clear: equestrian needed to stay. 

“I have a lot of connections in the horse industry, and so much time was spent traveling around the country begging, borrowing, and knocking down doors asking for money, but we couldn’t do that every year,” Leiter-Janes said. “Kevin looked at the math and pitched a new self-funding model where our team would be completely non-scholarship and our riders would pay to play. No other equestrian program in the country does it that way, but we tried it, and here we are, using the same exact method to this day.” 

With a fresh plan implemented, the news was official. In May 2016, it was announced that equestrian would remain a Skyhawk varsity sport. What was refreshing in the short term quickly turned into an admittedly rough transition. 

“We had quite a few really talented riders leave because of all of the uncertainty around the program,” Leiter-Janes said. “We had 17 girls on the roster. As time went on, that number increased to 20, then 24, then 28. Now we’re up to 40. I still can’t believe it.” 

Eight months after the COVID-19 pandemic swept the globe, Cunningham-Corvin resigned and Leiter-Janes was named UT Martin’s interim head coach. Having to navigate through an abbreviated eight-meet spring-only schedule, Leiter-Janes impressed not only Skyhawk officials but others across the nation. The Janesville, Wisconsin, native was voted Eastern College Athletic Conference Coach of the Year by her peers, and soon thereafter, she had the interim tag removed in June 2021. 

What has ensued would be remarkable in any sport at any level. The UT Martin equestrian program – once on life support – has thrived. 

This past season, the Skyhawks accounted for a school-record four Ariat NCEA All-Americans – including three on the first team, which trailed only equestrian heavyweights SMU and Auburn for the most in the country. UT Martin had 11 different student-athletes combine for a program-record 15 All-ECAC postseason awards, three of which were Conference Riders of the Year. 

The individual accolades are always nice, but it’s the team accomplishments that bear more weight. After combining to go 21-6 against ECAC rivals during the regular season but suffering four straight years of heartbreaking setbacks in the conference championship finals, Leiter-Janes wanted to change some things up. She tabbed McMillan – once the interim athletic director whom she credits with saving the program and author of 10 combined Skyhawk women’s basketball league championships – to give the team a speech a few days before the 2025 ECAC Championship tournament took place on the UT Martin campus. 

“I just wanted a different perspective,” Leiter-Janes said. “I knew at the beginning of the year that this could be a really good squad; we just needed to not beat ourselves with mistakes and minimize the little internal dramas behind-the-scenes that would get in the way. At the end of the day, we’re in a judged sport and the animals have a mind of their own – our ‘ball’ has a brain, weighs a minimum of 1,000 pounds and is responsive to each rider’s heartbeat. The little details come down to us – we have 40 girls that come from individual sport mindsets and we’re riding together as one team and one unit. Kevin asked our team to come up with three words as to what defines a good teammate, and they came up with ‘hardworking, selfless, and supportive.’ He really got us all on the same page and we used those three words as our mindset going into the tournament. We owe him a lot of gratitude.”

The Skyhawks charged forward, and following exhilarating come-from-behind victories in the semifinals and finals that came down to the last event, UT Martin triumphantly hoisted the 2024- 25 ECAC Championship trophy in front of their home fans – the program’s second conference championship and first in a dozen years.

That was one goal checked off the season’s “to-do list.” Three days later, another surprise was in store – the NCEA selection committee had bumped UT Martin from its No. 10 national ranking up to the No. 8 seed in the 2025 NCEA Championship field. The Skyhawks were headed to sunny Ocala, Florida, with the opportunity to compete for a national title. It marked the eighth national postseason appearance for the program, but first time since the field consisted of this current at-large eight-team format.

“The news didn’t truly hit us all the way for a while,” Leiter-Janes said. “Honestly, we didn’t change a lot. We practiced the same, got back to workouts and connected all the dots.”

One thing that undeniably changed in the two-week period after the NCEA bracket was revealed was the dinging of Leiter-Janes’ cellphone. Hundreds of congratulatory calls, texts, and social media posts found their way to Leiter-Janes, many from alumni who have kept tabs on the program from far away.

“We’ve had alumni come talk at our team meetings over the years,” Leiter-Janes said. “Earlier in the season, we had an alum tell our girls that ‘you’re doing this for all of us’ and I still get chill bumps thinking about that. That legacy is huge, and we talk about that all the time. Just to be at the big show, going out and doing our best, was so rewarding for our alumni.”

By far the smallest university in the eight-team NCEA Championship field, UT Martin boasted a scrappy, veteran group in 2024-25. Its starting lineup accumulated 274 head-to-head wins and 57 Most Outstanding Players over the course of their collegiate careers – many times squaring off against a nationally-ranked opponent.

“Our team camaraderie helped us be successful,” Leiter-Janes said. “Our girls bought in from our first scrimmage and were so undeniable during the conference championship tournament. We’ve never had a group of seniors where all seven of them start, so that’s great leadership. They’re strong riders who have been in those clutch moments, and they keep coming through when we’ve needed them because of their experience. They’ve been really instrumental in our team culture, the work ethic of our team, and our success.”

Leiter-Janes, who has won four ECAC Coach of the Year awards over the last five seasons and has directed the Skyhawks to 41 consecutive appearances in the NCEA top-10 rankings since March 2023, is quick to deflect any credit for a program that’s clearly ascending.

“The girls have done the work,” Leiter-Janes said. “It takes a village, and we have the best one – our administration, the entire athletic department, the coaches past and present, the parents, the donors, the alumni all have a huge hand in this. It was very important to represent who we are at nationals – our program looks a little different as kind of that gritty underdog who is a little more blue-collar. I was just so excited to see them cross that line and showcase UT Martin, our program, and our small town – digging in and showing out with the performances that we’ve been working on all season.”