Equestrian sports: Sequim riders cap shortened season with district honors

By Sequim Gazette Staff • April 29, 2020 1:30 am
From left, Sequim Equestrian Team seniors Hannah Kokoschka, Grace Niemeyer, Emma Albright and Lilly Thomas each earned at least one District 4 postseason medal following a shortened 2020 season. Submitted photo
From left, Sequim Equestrian Team seniors Hannah Kokoschka, Grace Niemeyer, Emma Albright and Lilly Thomas each earned at least one District 4 postseason medal following a shortened 2020 season. Submitted photo

The Sequim Equestrian Team saw its season end abruptly and without a chance to compete at the state meet, but riders are still coming away with some hardware for their efforts.

All four Sequim seniors and one junior earned district medals while the team took Small Teams Reserve Champion trophy — right behind Reserve Champion Port Angeles — as WAHSET District 4 season awards were announced earlier this month.

Awards were based on the one district meet, held Feb. 27-March 1 in Elma.

“Unfortunately (the) equestrian team only got to have one meet before coronavirus, so season awards were based on one meet instead of three,” Sequim coach Katie Salmon-Newton noted. “A very disappointing year for our seniors, but at least we had one before it hit.”

Among the Sequim seniors, Lilly Thomas took a gold medal (first place) in Driving, Grace Niemeyer took gold in Hunt Seat Over Fences and Emma Albright took gold in Figure Eight.

SHS senior Hannah Kokoschka took silver in Dressage.

Thomas and Keri Tucker teamed up for a silver medal in Team Sorting.

Overall, South Kitsap took Large Teams Champion with Prairie taking Medium Teams Champion. Individual awards went to Daphne Tuttle of Evergreen United (Performance), Cassi Ann Moore of Port Angeles (Timed Events) and Camryn Hook of Prairie (Versatility).