Mimi Wroten Headshot 22-23

Mimi Wroten '93

  • Title
    Director of Riding/Head Coach, NCEA
  • Email
    mwroten@sbc.edu
  • Phone
    434-381-6348

BIOGRAPHY

Mimi Wroten enters her 27th season with the Sweet Briar College riding program and 12th year as the director of riding. Wroten has also been the head coach of the Vixens' National Collegiate Equestrian Association (NCEA) team since its inception prior to the 2017-18 season.

Wrote helped lead the Vixens to a 10-2 record and their third-straight appearance at the National Championship meet thanks to a 5-3 victory over No. 3 Sacred Heart in the semifinals. During the season, Sweet saw four riders earn All-America Honors while six were named to the All-Academic Team. Katherine Atherton was named the ECAC Co-Rider of the Year - Flat, while Wyette Felton was crowned Freshman of the Year - Flat by the conference along with an Elite Equestrian title for Ella Peterson. 

In 2021-22, the Vixens advanced to their second-straight National Championship meet after defeating No. 3-seed Bridgewater 9-1 in the semifinals. Both Katherine Atherton and Kacie Freeburg received All-America Honorable Mention honors while Wroten was named the ECAC Single Discipline Coach of the Year.

Additional honors for the team during the 2021-22 NCEA season included Katherine Atherton being named ECAC Rider of the Year - Fences and ECAC Freshman of the Year - Fences. Emmy Longest was also named Elite Equestrian at the 2022 ECAC Single Discipline Championships for holding the highest GPA out of any finals competitor.

During the 2020-21 NCEA season at Sweet Briar, Wroten led the Vixens to victory at the NCEA National Championships after beating Lynchburg 6-2 in the first single-discipline championships.

The team came away as National Champions and held a 5-2 record during the course of the season, which included going undefeated against single discipline programs.

The shortened 2019-20 season saw Wroten's student-athletes recognized for success in and out of the ring, led by then-junior Katie Balding being the only rider in the Eastern College Athletic Conference to earn recognition in two disciplines as she was named All ECAC in fences and flat. Then-first-year Sophie Kane was honored as the ECAC Fences Freshman of the Year. As a team, Sweet Briar was recognized by the ECAC having earned six weekly honors from the conference.

In the classroom, Wroten's 2019-20 roster picked-up academic laurels from the ECAC, NCEA and Old Dominion Athletic Conference. Then-junior Lily Peterson was named the Equestrian Scholar-Athlete of the Year by the ODAC, before being named an Academic All-State recipient by the Virginia Sports Information Directors.

In her time as the head NCEA coach, Wroten has led the Vixens to five regular-season victories, while guiding Sweet Briar to a 2-2 (845-832) fences victory against Delaware State in the opening round of the 2019 NCEA National Championships.

Sweet Briar has been ranked as high as eighth in fences and ninth in flat during Wroten's tenure, while twice being awarded the NCEA Team Sportsmanship Award.

Since Wroten was named Director of Riding, the Vixens have won four ODAC Championships and Wroten has been named ODAC Coach of the Year four times. Under Wroten's tutelage, Sweet Briar student-athletes have earned recognition as Rider of the Year (four times), Rookie of the Year (four times) and Scholar-Athlete of the Year (two times).

In addition to her work with the Vixens' NCEA program, Wroten has worked with Sweet Briar IHSA riders and has seen her riders earn national championships and reserve national championships, headlined by then-senior Makayla Benjamin winning the 2018 USEF Cacchione Cup at the IHSA National Championships.

Wroten graduated from Sweet Briar with a Bachelor of Arts in psychology in 1993.

Wroten returned to Sweet Briar in the fall of 1996 after teaching and riding professionally in New Jersey. A U.S. Equestrian Federation 'R' judge, Wroten is also an American National Riding Commission-recorded judge and holds the ANRC top rider rating. Wroten is a U.S. Hunter Jumper Association Certified Trainer and was the 2010 recipient of the USHJA Professional Service Award.

COACHING HISTORY

Year Overall Pct. ECAC Pct. Postseason
2017-18 1-4 .200 0-0 .000 Fences, First Round; Flat, First Round
2018-19 0-7 .000 0-0 .000 Fences, Second Round; Flat, First Round
2019-20 4-6 .400 0-0 .000 -
2020-21 5-2 .714 0-0 .000 Single Discipline National Champions
2021-22 8-5 .615 6-2 .750 Single Discipline Runner-Up
2022-23 10-2 .833 7-1 .875 Single Discipline Runner-Up
7 Seasons 28-33 .459 13-3 .812 -

PERSONAL


Education B.A. in Psychology (Sweet Briar, 1993)

ACCOLADES

National Championships: 2021
NCEA All-America: One (First Team); One (Second Team); Nine (Honorable Mention)
NCEA All-Academic: 22
NCEA Sportsmanship Award: 2019, 2018
ECAC Single Discipline Champions: 2023, 2022
ECAC Coach of the Year: 2022
ECAC Rider of the Year: Katherine Atherton (Flat, 2023); Katherine Atherton (Fences, 2022)
ECAC Freshman of the Year: Wyette Felton (Flat, 2023); Katherine Atherton (2022); Sophia Kane (2020)
ECAC All-Conference: Three
ECAC Elite Equestrian: Ella Peterson (2023); Emmy Longest (2022)
ECAC All-Tournament Team: Seven
ECAC All-Academic Team: Four
ODAC Championships: 6
ODAC Rider of the Year: Lily Peterson (2021)
ODAC Rookie of the Year: Isabelle Mesiarik (2022)
ODAC Scholar-Rider of the Year: Lily Peterson (2021); Lily Peterson (2020)
ODAC All-Academic: 33
UEC All-Academic: 3

MILESTONES AT SWEET BRIAR

First Win: vs. Minnesota Crookston, 8-2 (March 16, 2018)

First ECAC Win: vs. Lynchburg, 5-3 (Oct. 28, 2021)

First ECAC Tournament Win: vs. Bridgewater, 5-3 (March 18, 2022)

First NCEA Tournament Win: vs. Delaware State (Fences), 2-2 (845-832) (April 17, 2019)