Freshman Emma Roberts has been named a 2012 All-American in equitation over fences by the National Collegiate Equestrian Association (SMU Athletics )

SMU’s equestrian team will compete in the National Collegiate Equestrian Championship, which will begin on April 12.

The Mustangs will face the University of Tennessee-Martin at 8:30 a.m. that day.

SMU holds the No. 5 seed in its respective bracket, while UTM holds the No. 12 seed.

In the Mustangs’ bracket, the strong competitors look to be the top seed Auburn, second seeded South Carolina and third seeded Georgia.

However, it seems the biggest competitor in this year’s tournament is Texas A&M.

A&M has one team of riders in SMU’s bracket, known as the Hunter Seat bracket, while the Aggies’ better team is in the western bracket.

The team in the western bracket is dominant, to say the least.

Not only did they go 10-2 this season, the Aggies have won the National Collegiate Equestrian Championship for the past three years.

If the Mustangs can make a deep run into the tournament, they will probably run into either A&M team at some point.

Texas A&M will be competing in the Big 12 Equestrian Championships, where they are the defending championships of that tournament as well.

In addition to SMU and Texas A&M, the state of Texas is well represented in the National Collegiate Equestrian Championship.

TCU has a No.10 seed in the western bracket and an No.8 seed in the hunter seat bracket.

Baylor also has two teams in the tournament, one a No.4 seed in hunter seat, the other a No.7 seed in the western bracket.

As SMU looks ahead to the tournament, they can look back on a pretty successful season.

Led in part by freshman Emma Roberts, the Mustangs are 7-6 this season. Probably their biggest win came against Texas A&M on Feb. 3, when SMU upset the Aggies 6-4.

If the Mustangs can make a run in the tournament, this could be a preview of an upset in the National Collegiate Equestrian Championship.