February 2025 Student Spotlight: Caitlin Lyons
Caitlin Lyons is one of Georgia’s most prolific student-athletes. Though she’s now a distinguished equestrian and a budding conservationist, Lyons was only 2 years old when she discovered her passion for horseback riding.
Before finishing elementary school, Caitlin was working with a riding instructor to polish her skills. “Once I got on my first horse, I just knew,” says Lyons. “And it didn’t take long for everyone around me to see how serious I was.” At 8 years old, Caitlin took a 3-month break to see whether riding was simply a fleeting phase. After begging her mom to ride again, it immediately became certain that Caitlin had a lasting, enthusiastic love for horseback riding.
After around a decade, after continuing to pursue horseback riding through middle and high school, Caitlin was accepted to the University of Georgia. She was enticed by UGA’s athletics, and the Lyons family moved from their home in Spokane, Washington to Greensboro, Georgia so that she could attend. Caitlin’s career as an equestrian at UGA has been explosively successful ever since. She became an SEC Reigning Rider of the Year in both 2021 and 2022, and she was also a member of the 2021 National Collegiate Equestrian Association (NCEA) national championship team. She has won over 20 rides and three Most Outstanding Performer honors, boasting a career-high score of 74.5. Caitlin recently became one of nine finalists for the immensely prestigious 2024 NCAA Woman of the Year Award. She was distinguished from a pool of 672 nominees for her outstanding achievements in academics and athletics, alongside her excellence in community service and leadership. She was named an honoree for the Peach of an Athlete award by the Atlanta Area Council of Boy Scouts of America, an award created to recognize the “role models for youth” among Georgia’s student-athletes.
Of course, it’s imperative to recognize the challenges that come with being a student-athlete. Caitlin upholds a delicate and impressive balance between her education and equestrianism. She’s garnered an astonishing collection of academic awards, including the following:
3x NCEA All-Academic First Team
4x SEC Academic Honor Roll
2024 SEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year for Equestrianism
Equestrian representative for the UGA Student-Athlete Advisory Committee
Student-Athlete Leadership Academy since 2020
3x Presidential Scholar Honors
Fall 2023-24 NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship
2021-22 Ramsey Scholarship for Academic Excellence (Top ten highest student-athlete by GPA)
Georgia Female Nominee for 2023-24 Brad Davis SEC Community Service Leader of the Year
Caitlin received her bachelor's degrees in both Ecology and French and is currently studying for a Master of Natural Resources Degree from Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources. “My biggest dream is to protect and conserve endangered species, and at its core, I believe, we must cherish the cohabitation between humans and wildlife”, she says. “One of the first things they teach you about horseback riding is that you always take care of your horse before you take care of yourself. Learning how to care for another living being that I love and adore has been a major influence on my character. It’s why I am who I am.” Working in wildlife conservation is the next step for Caitlin, enabling her to protect endangered species and safeguard the human-animal connections that she’s cherished throughout her career.
