The Nugget Newspaper - News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon

Eight Sisters High School equestrian team members got to face off with riders and horses from all over Oregon in the 2022 Oregon High School Equestrian Team State Championships held May 12-15 at Deschutes County Fair & Expo Center.

Oregon High School Equestrian Team is separated into eight regions during the regular season. The best from each region compete at the state meet, featuring competitors from over two dozen schools. The four-day competition features 26 different events ranging from dressage to sorting cows, contested as individuals, pairs, and teams.

Josie Berg competed in a pair of individual events, placing fifth in keyhole (a speed event in which horse and rider run a pattern) and 25th in pole bending (an equestrian slalom). Other individual competitors included Brooklyn Lugo, who finished 10th in keyhole, and Sidney Sillers, who placed 11th in individual flag (where the rider grabs a flag from one barrel and rides at speed to drop it in another). Sillers also competed in figure eight and keyhole.

In pairs competition, Berg and Taylor Lookabaugh placed fifth in the two-person pattern ride of the bi-rangle, while Sillers and Lugo placed 22nd in the event. Lilly Rickart and Rayna Arends gathered a total of eight cows in the team sorting competition, where they placed 10th.

In the Canadian flag race (riders must race out and grab a specified flag and return in a relay) Sillers, Lugo, Berg, and Lookabaugh placed fifth and the quartet of Ava Siler, Lucy Siler, Lugo, and Lookabaugh placed seventh in freestyle fours (drill team). That same group of four also placed 18th in team versatility.

Theresa Siler, in her first year as the head coach, felt pleased with the way the girls competed over the four days.

“The girls had an excellent state meet,” said Siler. “They had such a great season and ended it with enormous success. Not only did many of the athletes qualify for regionals in June, they really came together as a team. It’s been such a difficult two years with COVID, and with two graduating seniors, it was such a joyous site to be able to see these kids together again. We are all just a little more thankful for a season of normalcy.”

Qualifiers for the regional meet to take place in Moses Lake, WA, in June include Josie Berg (keyhole Canadian flags and bi-rangle), Sidney Sillers (Canadian flags), Brookly Lugo (Canadian flags), and Taylor Lookabaugh (Canadian flags, bi-rangle, and second alternate for drill).