Interschool finals a grass-roots showcase of future stars
THE dressage and showjumping grand finals for this year’s Victorian Equestrian Interschool Series have been held over two huge days at Werribee Park.
In showjumping, Braemar College performed consistently through the year to take out the teams championship five points ahead of Sale College, with Toorak in third place.
In dressage, Toorak prevailed despite Geelong College tying for honours during the grand final day.
The Victorian Equestrian Interschool Series (VEIS) was established to support quality dressage and showjumping competitions run under Equestrian Australia rules to encourage skill development at the grass-roots level.
VEIS events use accredited judges and course designers and cater for all levels of riders. The events are supported by hosting schools and/or other bodies.
The series facilitates the running of three qualifying events and a grand final in dressage and showjumping. The champion and reserve champion in certain levels qualify for the Victorian team for the Australian National Interschool Championships.
The VEIS organising committee consists of representatives from three regions – Northern, Barwon and South East – and aims to promote a dressage and showjumping event in each of the regions. It’s a big task and well run across a wide range and level of schools and an even wider variety of horses.
In the senior classes, the well-bred schoolmaster warmbloods appear, and right through the lower grades, the prefixes of many of the country’s most famous Welsh Studs are in every list of placegetters.
Individual champions in dressage included Lucy Coventry, Toorak College, small tour; Sebastian Fong, De La Salle College in advanced; Olivia Jackson, Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, medium; Sebastian Fong, De La Salle College, elementary; Emily Walker, Plenty Valley Christian College, senior novice; Sienna Pullar, Peninsula Grammar, intermediate novice; Piper Bondarenko, Kardinia International College, primary novice; Thomas Harrison, Flinders Christian Community College, preliminary senior; Chelsie Hanna, Maffra Secondary College, preliminary intermediate; Frankie Murphy, Mount Eliza North Primary, preliminary primary; and Annabelle Eagles, Geelong College, preparatory champion.
In showjumping at the advanced level, Sale College schoolmates Ava Harrington and Alyssa Greening topped the leaderboard just two points apart, with Alyssa on her other ride finishing second to Alice Lawrence of Toorak College in the stars level.
Other winners were Sienna Pullar, Peninsula Grammar, aspiring level; Bianca Griffiths, the progressive winner who, coming from Finley High School, probably would have won an award for the most distance travelled as well as the championship; Nellie Tuddenham, Ballarat Grammar, improvers level; Bella Gess-Jones, Red Hill Consolidated School, encourage level; Jayde Coady, Bacchus Marsh Grammar, primary freshmans; and Summer Camilleri, Marist-sion College, secondary freshmans.
Full results
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