Westmont Men's Polo Rides High to Nationals

The Westmont Men’s Polo Team beat Stanford 19-3 on March 20 at the Central Coast Polo Club in San Luis Obispo to earn the 2016 USPA Western Regional Intercollegiate Championship. The team now gallops into the USPA National Intercollegiate Championship at the University of Connecticut April 4-10. The Warriors won national titles in 2013 and 2014. The team, comprised of Hank Uretz, Tony Uretz and Michael Esparza, is coached by John Westley, owner of the Santa Barbara Polo School. Men’s polo teams from the University of Virginia, Cornell and Texas A&M have also qualified for nationals.

Westmont, which has won the Western Regionals 10 of the last 13 years, became the first Western Region team to win a National Intercollegiate Championship in more than a quarter century in 2013. It repeated as national champions the following year, beating the University of Virginia 16-13.

The Warriors earned a spot to nationals last year, but chose not to compete due to a lack of funding and experience. Colorado State beat Texas A&M for the 2015 national championship.

The Westmont polo club team was created in 2000, fielded its first team in 2005 and competed for a national championship in 2007, falling to Texas A&M. Unlike students at larger universities, Westmont team members do not receive college scholarships to play polo.