Sisters equestrians are champions

The Sisters High School equestrian team rode home triumphant from the recent OHSET state meet, held May 13-17 at Central Point. The drill team is state champion, and freshman Bobbi Jo Rosauer brought home a silver medal in dressage. Ten of the 14 team members qualified for the state competition, which drill coach Ann Gates counted as "phenomenal."

Head coach Beth Jacobsen said, "We've had a really good year. I'm so proud of all our team."

The drill team certainly had a Cinderella story, according to Jacobsen and Gates. At the start of the season, five young women were interested in riding drill. Four of them were either novices at drill or fairly inexperienced riders.

In OHSET drill competitions, two classifications exist. One is for teams of four members, the other for teams of six or more members. In Sisters' case, the girls formed a four-member team; senior Taryn Gates (who is an experienced member of the Silver Edge Drill Team) opted to coach with her mother, Ann, for the first two meets. The four riders, Lindsay Soliz, Brittney Bounds, MacKenzie Gellings and McKenzie Legg, began to learn the intricacies of drill competition.

In the first district meet at the end of February, the team performed a simple drill at the trot. By the next meet, a month later, the girls were performing at a lope. A serious accident in another event put Soliz out of action with a broken back. Taryn Gates took her place at the last minute and rode there for the remaining meets. The third meet, held in mid-April, found the team executing the drill pattern at 'drill speed,' a fast lope, and they took home second place, qualifying for state.

According to Ann Gates, the team then decided to learn a completely new drill for the state competition. Just prior to the meet, Bound's horse came up lame, so she borrowed a horse she'd never ridden and the team went on to the win. Coach Gates is "phenomenally proud of our team." She also added that there is renewed interest in the drill team for next year.

In other results, SHS Hunt Seat over Fences riders excelled, with four finishing in the top 10. Cassidy Kinneman took fourth; Katie Yozamp, fifth; Bobbi Jo Rosauer, fifth; Samantha Novotny, ninth.

Yozamp also finished in the top ten in dressage, bringing home seventh place.