By: Brianna Ammori

It’s time to say goodbye to the horses as Walled Lake Central’s Equestrian team closes out its fall season. Though their season started in a rough place, the team came in second at Districts, which led them to the Regional competition where they finished in 8th with a score of 73 points.

“We just weren’t doing as good as we had in past years and it was frustrating,” said junior Emma Bradley of the early part of the season. The team competed in a total of three district meets this season at various barns in the Metro Detroit area. “During the three meets that we participated in this season, we didn’t do so well, but we stepped it up for Districts and because of that, we made it into the regional competition on September 30,” said freshman Lily Higgins.

After they participated in those meets, they moved on to districts and they then qualified for the three day regionals and emerged as reserved district champion. Districts was a competition at Milford High School where the team competed against Holly High School, South Lyon East High School, and West Bloomfield High School. “The competition went very well considering how bad our season started out. I am very proud how much our team came together to create this accomplishment for us,” said senior Clara Kissling. The team ended up getting 2nd place overall which led them to be placed in the regional competition.

To end the season, the team went to regionals from September 29th to October 1st. This was the team’s second year going to the regional championship due to their placement in districts. The competition was held in Owosso with roughly 36 teams competing from the Midwest and eight teams from each division. Walled Lake Central was in the B division, where teams had between 8 and 9 riders per team. “The regional competition was done over the course of three days where we camped out right outside the showgrounds. We played a lot of team bonding games during our free time and it was super fun,” said sophomore Jillian Crocker.  The setup for the shows was done early Friday morning and they competed through Sunday afternoon. At the end of the weekend, Central came in 8th place with 73 points.

With Coach Roxanne Sanders at their side, the equestrian team consisted of seniors Morgan Austin, Cassie Myers, Mackenzie Biediger, Elizabeth Raider, and Clara Kissling; junior Emma Bradley; sophomores Jillian Crocker and Allison Davis; and freshman Lily Higgins.

The season ended but the memories and experiences they had together will never be forgotten. “I can’t believe it’s over, but I’m so happy I got to spend my four years riding with the Walled Lake Central Equestrian Team,” said senior Morgan Austin.