When Kristina Papendick, of Rapid City South Dakota was a student at the University of South Carolina Brett Comer was studying Business just across the Palmetto state at Clemson. They could have easily crossed paths at the big Tigers/Gamecocks rivalry game. Afterall, his parents, Bill and Nancy Comer were USC grads and advised him to check out  the Gamecock bar during the football season openers, a place Kristina visited often.

But it wasn’t until nine months ago that the two actually did cross paths, coincidently, at a sports bar called Typhoon Saloon frequented by University of South Carolina Alumni on Pacific Beach in San Diego.

They have been dating ever since. And last weekend, while visiting Kristina’s family in South Dakota for the first time, the couple became engaged. Raised as a “southern gentleman” in Charlotte, North Carolina until his parents moved to San Diego when he was 13, Brett knew he would have to ask Kristina’s father, Lew, for her hand in marriage.

And Harley D Zip, the horse that helped Kristina win an AQHA World Championship title in Amateur Western Riding played an important role in the proposal.

“My dad thought it would be good to test Brett’s shooting ability on some clay pigeons down at the barn. So the whole family went down to the barn to see how good of a shot Brett has,” Kristina says.

On the walk back to the house Kristina and her sister, Ali, passed by Harley’s pasture and thought it would be fun to jump on and ride him bareback. As she was about to the scale the fence to hop on Harley, Brett got down on one knee.

“He said: ‘Before you get on Harley, will you marry me?’” Kristina recalls.

Everyone but Kristina and her mother, Kerry, knew it was going to happen.

“Brett knew that having Harley and my family involved would make for the perfect proposal,” Kristina says.

Since the couple just moved to Dallas, Texas and Comer started graduate school they are planning on enjoying a long engagement.

“The wedding won’t happen for at least a year,” explains Papendick. “I want to have plenty of time to plan things out as well as keep up with our busy lives.”