Horse polo player Cooper Hibbard was recently named the U.S. Polo Association's 2007-08 Male Intercollegiate Player of the Year. Hibbard is a 2003 Capital High graduate and a senior at California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly) in San Luis Obispo, Calif. He earned the national honor on the merits of his "playing ability, contributions to the sport, and sportsmanship," according to the Polo Training Foundation Awards criteria.

Hibbard was presented the award at the Annual Board of Governors Gala in Warrenton, Va., last week.

"When Cooper first started out with us as a freshman, he was pretty green," said Cal Poly Mustangs' coach Megan Judge. "But he was a natural horeseman and a born team leader. By his sophomore year, he was mentoring the newcomers. Cooper became the key ingredient to our team playing together as a cohesive unit." She described polo as "hockey on horseback."

Prior to attending Cal Poly, Hibbard had never even seen polo before, although he did grow up around horses. A fifth generation Montana rancher, he has spent most of his life working on the family's Sieben Livestock Company ranch near Cascade.

Hibbard took up alpine snow ski racing at eight years of age. He was a member of the Great Divide Race Team for 11 years, serving as the GDST captain all four years of high school. Hibbard competed in the slalom, giant slalom, Super G and the downhill, qualifying for the Junior Olympics five times.

He enrolled at Cal Poly in the fall of 2004. He was chosen as the Mustangs' team captain all four years, and was a two-time Western Region All-Star team selection, in 2006 and 2008.

In the fall of 2006, Hibbard was one of four collegians chosen to participate in a week-long exchange program developed by the U.S. Polo and Argentina Polo Associations.

The students spent a week in Buenos Aires, for the purpose of "giving the American players an opportunity to play and interact with their South American counterparts in polo, social and cultural settings, intended to promote and expand U.S. and Argentine relations," according to Polo Player's Edition magazine.

Hibbard will graduate from Cal Poly this December, with a BS in agricultural business, and minors in rangeland resources and Spanish. His cumulative GPA is 3.801. He is the son of Scott and Gretchen Hibbard.

Q What was your background on horses before you took up polo?

A Hibbard: I was on horseback quite a bit working the ranch, herding sheep and cattle. I learned to train, doctor and shoe the horses. And I spent the summer of '05 as a horse wrangler on the Seven Lazy P Guest Ranch in Choteau, leading the trail rides.

Q How did you happen to join the polo team at Cal Poly?

A Hibbard: My first week of school, they were passing around these flyers for the polo team. So I checked it out, climbed on a horse and started banging a ball around, and I've been addicted ever since.

Q What was your favorite event when you ski raced?

A Hibbard: I liked the slalom for technicalities, and the downhill for the adrenaline rush.

Q What was your reaction when you first learned that you had been named the National Male Player of the Year?

A Hibbard: I was in the ranch office when a member of the Polo Association called about the award. My coach had mentioned earlier that she had nominated me, but I didn't think something like that would ever materialize, so I just forgot about it. I was actually in a state of disbelief for about a week after I found out.

Q So how did the award ceremony go last week in Virginia?

A Hibbard: Well, my coach couldn't be there, so they read her introduction, which was very touching. But she wrote a lot of things I wanted to say for my acceptance speech, so I had to ad-lib quite a bit when I got up there. But everyone thought it turned out OK.