Riding High
Madelyn Trebilcock
PHOTO BY RON SCHWANE PHOTOGRAPHY .
BY NICOLE TAFE
Four middle school students from Pine‐Richland and North Allegheny compete as part of the Candy Lane Acres IEA team and place fifth in the nation at this year ’ s Nationals competition .
The members of Franklin Park ’ s Candy Lane Acres IEA team have a lot to be proud of . Four local middle school students — two from North Allegheny and two from Pine-Richland — recently competed in the 2018 Interscholastic Equestrian Association ’ s ( IEA ) Hunt Seat Nationals , in Syracuse , New York , from April 20-22 . They represented Zone 11 , which includes teams from Pennsylvania , New Jersey and West Virginia , in the Nationals competition featuring riders from across the nation .
The riders who qualified for this year ’ s Nationals bested more than 13,700 youth equestrians . Nearly 400 of the nation ’ s leading middle school and high school equestrians traveled from across the country to compete for top honors in Hunt Seat classes in the IEA National Finals . Of the 1,560 high school and middle school teams from across the country , only 200 teams qualified for Nationals .
The mission of the IEA is to introduce students in private and public middle and secondary schools to equestrian sports and to promote and improve the quality of equestrian competition and instruction . A nonprofit organization , the IEA has over 13,500 members in 42 states across North America . Riders competed in Hunt Seat Equitation classes , Over Fences and On the Flat , throughout the weekend . The format required that riders compete in unfamiliar tack on unfamiliar mounts , drawing their horses the day of competition and entering the arena after a brief — if any — warmup .
Jacqueline Chalifoux , 13 , is the daughter of Thomas Chalifoux and Sylvia Choi . She lives in Franklin Park and attends North Allegheny ’ s Marshall Middle School where she is a part of the orchestra , student newspaper and GOAL — Gifted Opportunities for Advanced Learning .
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