Gladstone, NJ-June 30, 1998

The United States Equestrian Team (USET) has selected show jumping rider Margie Goldstein-Engle of Wellington, FL as USET Athlete of the Month for June 1998.

Engle (pictured right in 1997 at Aachen) won the award for winning the $100,000 Rolex/USET Show Jumping Championship, presented by Ethel M Chocolates, at the Bayer/USET Festival of Champions at USET Headquarters and Olympic Training Center on June 21. Additionally, Engle closed the month occupying the top spot on the USET Show Jumping Computer List with 14,100 points. The points and rankings are derived from riders' finishes in Grand Prix events of $25,000 or more, weighted according to the quality of the starting field and the date of the event: more weight is given to more recent events.

Three of eight World Equestrian Games selection trials occurred in June and Engle has tied for third position on Hidden Creek's Glory with 12 penalties and is in seventh position on Hidden Creek's Alvaretto with 12.25. She placed third in Selection Trial #1 on Hidden Creek's Alvaretto and on Hidden Creek's Glory won Selection Trial #2 and placed second in Selection Trial #3. Engle traveled from the Bayer/USET Festival of Champions in Gladstone, NJ to compete in the $30,000 Detroit Cadillac North American Grand Prix in Bloomfield Hills, MI on Saturday, June 20 and placed third on Hidden Creek's Wichita and sixth on Hidden Creek's Christo. Winner of a record five Budweiser Grandprix Rider of the Year awards, Engle currently leads the race for AGA Rider of the Year by 17 points with a total of 81 and Hidden Creek's Glory is in third place for the coveted AGA Horse of the Year.

This marks the second time Engle has been named USET Athlete of the Month since the program was initiated in 1997. She won the award in February of 1997 for her commanding lead on the USET Computer List and for riding Hidden Creek's Laurel to victory in the $100,000 Budweiser/American Grand Prix Association (AGA) Championship on February 2, 1997. Throughout Engle's career, from riding her first pony at age nine on Gladewinds Farm in Florida, earning her first Grand Prix victory with Daydream at Cincinnati in 1985, competing as a member of the USET for the first time in 1989 at the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair in Toronto, right up to her brilliant performances in June 1998, she has truly maintained a positive pattern of successes continually forged amongst the best competitors in the sport.

Each month, in an effort to recognize and reward stellar achievements, acts of enrichment, or meritorious participation by USET athletes, no matter which discipline (Driving, Show Jumping, Dressage, Eventing, Endurance or Reining) the USET has proudly instituted the Athlete of the Month program. The USET is the non profit organization responsible for selecting, training and funding athletes of the highest possible standard to represent the United States in international equestrian competition. For more information on how you can support the USET, please visit USET ONLINE at www.uset.org, or call (908) 234-1251.