"Being a student-athlete means being a role model for others."
That is how Caitlin Lyons, a former equestrian student-athlete at Georgia and a finalist for the 2024 NCAA Woman of the Year award, viewed her place on campus.
Through athletics, academics and community service, Lyons took advantage of the opportunities she had in front of her to be the best person she could be and set an example for others.
Lyons' strong sense of dedication to her passions showed itself at an early age. At 2, she begged for a stick horse after seeing one during a house tour. This turned into a love for real horses and soon horse riding. As she grew older, her skill and drive to compete in the sport grew, too. When she was 8, her parents realized just how much she loved it.
Lyons was an equestrian student-athlete at Georgia from 2019-2024. (Photos courtesy of Caitlin Lyons)
"The horse farm we were going to was an hour from where we lived, and so it was hard for my mom to go from work to there, and so she had told me, 'Oh, we're going to look for a place closer,'" Lyons said.
"Three months went by — she was testing if I was really interested in it or not. I asked every single day for three months when I was going to a new farm. And from there, they realized, 'OK, she's serious about this.' And everything really just took off there."
At 11, she was participating in American Quarter Horse Association and National Reining Horse Association competitions. Once she reached high school, Lyons had to decide just how much time and effort she was going to put into competing.
"My parents were also really invested in me playing other sports," said Lyons, who also participated in soccer, lacrosse, softball, basketball and cheerleading throughout her childhood. "I played soccer from when I was kindergarten all the way through my freshman year of high school, and then it just got to the point where soccer was becoming really competitive at that point, and so was equestrian. I had to choose, and so I chose equestrian."
Lyons earned the SEC Reining Rider of the Year award for the 2021-22 season, finishing with a 10-3-1 record.
The choice ended up being the right decision for Lyons, who continued to improve at horse riding throughout her high school career. Once college started to become a priority, some of the riders in her home state of Washington introduced her to the equestrian program at Georgia, one of the most successful programs in the nation.
"I came to Athens with my mom (on a visit), and I stepped off the plane and was like, 'This is where I'm meant to be,'" Lyons said. "There was no looking back after that."
As excited as Lyons was to go to Georgia, her head coach, Meghan Boenig, was just as ecstatic for her to join to group.
"She was a superstar," Boenig said. "She greatly fulfilled what we see as our three A's — academics, attitude and athletics."
During her sophomore year, Lyons played a role in the program winning its seventh national title. Looking back, she is grateful for the ups and downs of the season, which was affected greatly by the COVID-19 pandemic.
"That was a really tough season," Lyons said. "We were tested weekly after 5 a.m. workouts … and at practice we had to clean all of our materials every single day."
"Through that, we all got really close with each other, and we were all making so many sacrifices every single day to do our sport that it made the work we were doing so much more important. And I think coming up to the national championship, it was like, 'We have worked so hard for this all year, and we have sacrificed for this all year — let's make it count.'"
Lyons continued her outstanding performance the following season, being named Southeastern Conference Reining Rider of the Year and winning all-conference honors. In addition to the athletics honors, she frequently earned academic honors as well. Lyons was a four-time selection to the National Collegiate Equestrian Association's All-Academic First Team, and during her graduate season in 2023-24, she was named SEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year and a recipient of an NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship.
Although she put countless hours into her schoolwork, it never felt like a chore to the ecology and French double major.
"I've always loved to learn, and I'm very passionate about what I went to school for," Lyons said. "If you love what you're learning, then you can spend hours a day dedicating yourself to that, and it makes the hard work feel worth it."
Choosing to do a graduate year also turned out to be a worthwhile decision for Lyons because it not only provided her the opportunity to earn her master's degree in natural resources with a concentration in wildlife science, but it resulted in the opportunity to intern with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, where she now works full time as a bat conservation technician.
Lyons has had a lifelong love and respect for wildlife, evident to all those who know her best. McKenzie Lantz, an assistant equestrian coach at Georgia, saw firsthand just how much she cared about the animals she encountered every day.
"Caitlin is probably one of the most connected with animals that we've ever had on this team," Lantz said. "I think she's somebody that always put our horses first."
While Lyons' career allows her to serve the wildlife community, she always has been fervent about serving her own community as well. As a student-athlete at Georgia, she mentored a young girl named Audrey who was a member of the team through Team IMPACT, an organization that pairs children facing serious illnesses and disabilities with college sports teams.
"One of the greatest privileges I've had is working with Audrey," Lyons said. "(Being) able to really connect with her and develop a relationship and … seeing her light up around the horses was so beautiful."
This experience encapsulated what Lyons strived to be as a student-athlete: that role model for others. Even after her time at Georgia, she aspires to be that same person in every environment she is in.
"I'm so grateful to the NCAA and to the Georgia way, and to my coaches and the SEC for believing in me," Lyons said. "It means the world to me, and it continues to show me how important it is to try your hardest and lead by example, and how influential you can be to the people around you."
