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Athletes from Tecumseh and Sand Creek will compete for a state titles this weekend at the Michigan Interscholastic Horsemanship Association championships. 

Opening ceremonies begin today and competition concludes Sunday when five state champions in five different divisions will be crowned. Tecumseh is in Division A while Sand Creek competes in Division B. 

This is Sand Creek’s first trip to the state finals. They qualified by finishing second at the regional at Mason, beating the third-place team by just three points. 

“Competition was definitely tight,” said Sand Creek equestrian coach Deena Covey.  

Equestrian puts teams into various divisions based on how many riders they have on the team. Sand Creek has eight riders and is in Division B.  

“We’ve gone to regionals a number of times, but we never made it to the state,” Covey said.  

Equestrian at the high school level is governed by MIHA, a group first organized in 1968. It was known as the Huron Valley Interscholastic Horsemanship Association for the first two years, but by the mid-1970s, the organization had grown and so had the competitions. The first state championships were held in 1976 in White Lake Township with nearly 600 fans. Romeo was crowned the first state champ. 

There are various events — much like a swim meet or track and field meet — such as Western Seat, Saddle Seat and Showmanship. There are different timed events and riders are required to wear special uniforms.  

Several area schools have equestrian teams, including Madison, Hudson, Clinton and Onsted, among others. The season began in August with a meet and continues into September with a couple more competitions. Teams go through districts and regionals in an effort to qualify for the finals. 

Tecumseh was the Division B Reserve State Champion last year. This is the third time they have reached the state finals in the 20 years Dianne and Rick Kimmitt have coached the team. Tecumseh is Division A this year because they have 10 riders. They won the district and regional competition by wide margins. 

“We lost four seniors from last year’s team and have five seniors this year,” Dianne Kimmitt said. “They all have a pretty good record. We’re hoping to do well again this year.” 

Kimmitt said her team’s strengths are Western, English and Saddle seat. Tecumseh’s competitors are Bryleigh and Raelynn Ahearn, Ryleigh Emrick, Grace Lasky, Alazae Newman, Maris Osworth, Jordan Platt, Baley Romanowski, Grace Slusarski and Faith Weidyk.  

Covey is a former Sand Creek equestrian competitor herself. She took over coaching duties – on a volunteer basis – about six years ago when the Sand Creek school board recognized equestrian as an official varsity sport. This is the first time taking the team to the state finals. It’s a family event, she said, with the competitors bringing their own horses and camping on site. 

“You are really dependent on your family,” Covey said. “It’s a really hard sport to be successful in if you don’t have the parental support. It’s expensive – the horse, the travel, the trailer … pretty much all of our kids spend hours a week with their horse trainer, then spend a couple hours a week with us at practice. We could not do this without family involvement.” 

Covey said the difference between this year’s team and previous ones is the depth she has in certain events. 

“This year we are really deep in speed,” Covey said. “I have really good speed riders. They do rodeos, the girls travel around and compete in them. I’ve never really had anyone do that. We just have a good balanced team. Everybody has their role.” 

Isabella Shuldt is in her second year on the Sand Creek team. She’s the only senior on the team and equestrian is her only sport. She said her teammates push each other to keep improving. 

“I decided to join the equestrian team last year because I had started to take lessons and I wanted to start showing (horses),” she said. “We are all just there to have fun and push each other to try new things.” 

Shuldt usually competes in jumping, saddle seat and hunt seat.  

“We are very excited to have this opportunity, especially after how hard we had to work to get here,” she said. 

In addition to Shuldt, Sand Creek has Ava and Emma Brighton, Denae Covey, Elizabeth and Lindsey Justice, T.J. Moore and Scout Robinson.  

“This is pretty exciting,” Covey said. “The kids put in tons and tons of work. It’s exciting to see them make it.”

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