Mt. Lebanon junior quietly going after national title
Tri-State Sports & News Service
At Mt. Lebanon High School, junior Rachel Wiles is known for being an honorroll student, a talented singer and a big personality.
What many don’t know is how skilled she is in the sport of horseback riding ... and she is perfectly fine with this.
“It’s not like the traditional sports, so I kind of keep it to myself,” Wiles said. “When I miss school for a competition, people will ask where I was. I usually don’t say anything, though, because it’s so different than what most people are used to.”
If all goes well July 1 in Oklahoma City, Wiles could ride her secret all the way to a national championship. She will compete in the varsity intermediate horsemanship division at the Interscholastic Equestrian Association Western National finals.
She earned a spot by placing second at the IEA Zone 2 championships May 20 against 19 other riders from New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
“When I found out I was going, I screamed,” said Wiles, a three-time national qualifier who placed eighth in 2015. “I was super-excited. I’m really looking forward to going to nationals and competing against the top riders in the country.”
In the horsemanship division, the 16 competitors start out by drawing the name of the horse they will ride. They do not ride their own horses.
The riders are then judged on their posture, and their ability to control and influence the horse over three gaits — walk, jog and lope. The judge determines when and which gaits the riders will perform. The horse is expected to transition smoothly and effortlessly between the gaits. The horse should also move at the correct speed with the correct body posture.
A rider since the fourth grade, Wiles said it gets confusing trying to explain how precise and detail-oriented the horsemanship division is.
“It’s sort of like gymnastics, in that you have to have your toes pointed in a certain way and you have to have your shoulders back and your head up,” she said. “You basically ride around the arena and the judges evaluate you. They look at how you handle yourself on a different horse. And they want you to look good doing it.”
Wiles is a member of the Marciak Performance Horses Equestrian Team at Caustelot Farms in Cecil. The 20-member squad comprises riders from the Mt. Lebanon, Bethel Park, Upper St. Clair, Peters Township and Canon-McMillan school districts.
According to coach Kathy Marciak, Wiles had makings of an elite rider from the day she first arrived at Caustelot.
“She’s naturally gifted, and I saw that six years ago,” Marciak said of Wiles, the lone team member to qualify for nationals. “What’s going to help her at finals is that she’s been there before. It’s not going to be as overwhelming because she knows what to expect. I definitely feel she can compete with the best of them and, hopefully, place very well there.”
Wiles discovered riding while visiting Rolling Hills Ranch in Bridgeville seven years ago. She and some friends had gone out on a leisurely ride, but she returned with a powerful desire to get back on a horse.
“It was just super-fun and I took to it right away,” said Wiles, who trains a minimum of nine hours each week. “So I asked my parents about it and they started me into lessons. It kind of took off from there.”
When not training and competing, Wiles and classmate Annie Hoffman sing together at various community events. The duo mixes rock and musical theater with their favorite, country. Their most recent performance was last weekend at the high school.
“Riding takes up a lot of time, so it’s nice to get out and do some other things,” Wiles said. “I miss a lot of school activities due to traveling around for different competitions. That can be hard, but it’s also a sacrifice I make for something I really enjoy doing.”