Notre Dame preps for another busy equestrian season

The Notre Dame equestrian team is gearing up for a very busy fall season, hoping to repeat their district and regional championships from the past two years. Preparing for their upcoming season, however, is a bit different from any other team sport at Notre Dame. Unlike other teams, no full-team practices are held in the last few weeks of summer break to help the members prepare for the season, according to Theresa Schmid, a Notre Dame alum (’13) who helps head coach Stephanie Bean with the team during the season.

“With the team’s horses living in Oxford, Davison, Ortonville, Lapeer and Ray Township, respectively, it is logistically too difficult to plan group practices in the summer before the fall competition,” said Schmid. “Instead, each rider individually develops their skills with the team’s coaches and their personal trainers throughout the year.”

A summary of a busy summer for equestrian team members follows. . .

​Notre Dame Prep junior Jane Gemellaro and her horse, Mr. Brightside, celebrated a winning round earlier this month in Chicago, taking first in the  $1,500 Child/Adult WIHS/NAL/M&S Jumper Classic. The 2016 show season for Gemellaro and Mr. Brightside has been very successful with multiple wins in the high children's division, along with weekly high children's championships and reserve championships at multiple shows. Although Gemellaro competes in jumping for most of the year, she’ll ride in a variety of events — huntseat showmanship, huntseat equitation, equitation over fences, trail, flags, stakes race and two-man relay — for the equestrian team on horse Oreos Poco Chip. Gemellaro will return to the NDP equestrian team this fall as team co-captain.

Junior Sophia Shick and her horse, PALB Lucky Quantum Leap (aka Patches), compete regularly in the Arabian Horse Association. This year, Shick and Patches were reserve champion in Hunter Pleasure 18 & Under in Region 13 of the association, and champion in Hunt Pleasure 18 & Under, Hunter Equitation, and Western Horsemanship in Region 18. Shick is branching out in the equestrian team this year: she is leasing another horse, Peanut, to compete in the reining event, which she has not tried before. In addition, Shick will also ride Patches in saddleseat showmanship, saddleseat equitation, saddleseat bareback, saddleseat pattern, huntseat bareback, western horsemanship, and western bareback events. She will return to the NDP equestrian team this fall as team co-captain.

Notre Dame freshman Olivia Urban and her horse, San Chip Blackburn (aka Pandora), compete locally in western and speed events, and qualified this year for the Michigan 4-H State Horse Show in the speed division. The competition, which was held at Michigan State University and hosted hundreds of the best riders from every county in the state, was a success for Olivia and Pandora, as they placed fifth for the flag race and fourthth for the keyhole event. Urban will join the NDP equestrian team this fall for the first time, and represent the team in the reining, flag race, cloverleaf, stakes race and two-man relay events.

Finally, freshman Maegan Fitzgerald and her horse, Acapella, have had a successful year so far, from placing in the Top 10 in Low Children’s Hunter classes during her first time at the Great Lakes Equestrian Festival to qualifying for the year-end Michigan Hunter-Jumper Association’s (MHJA) Young Riders Medal. Fitzgerald and Acapella will be riding in the MHJA Championships over the Labor Day weekend, getting only a few days of rest before the first equestrian team meet the following weekend. This fall, Fitzgerald will be competing in the saddleseat equitation and saddleseat pattern events for the first time, as well as representing Notre Dame in the huntseat equitation, huntseat bareback and equitation over fences.

Good luck and go Irish!

Comments or questions? mkelly@ndpma.org.

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About Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy

Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy is a private, Catholic, independent, coeducational day school located in Oakland County. The school's upper division enrolls students in grades nine through twelve and has been named one of the nation's best 50 Catholic high schools (Acton Institute) four times since 2005. Notre Dame's middle and lower divisions enroll students in jr. kindergarten through grade eight. All three divisions are International Baccalaureate "World Schools." The Marist Fathers and Brothers sponsor NDPMA's Catholic identity and manages its educational program. Notre Dame is accredited by the National Association of Independent Schools, the Independent Schools Association of the Central States and the North Central Association Commission on Accreditation and School Improvement. For more on Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy, visit the school's home page at www.ndpma.org.