PITTSBORO — Pittsboro’s Kayla Amy had an objectively good week earlier this month.
First, the Northwood senior captured the 2019 Circuit Championship at the Triangle Horse Show in Raleigh on November 9.
Competing in the Junior Amateur Equitation Division in the 15- to 17-year-old age division, Amy won the title with an impressive performance as the North Carolina State Fairgrounds Complex on her horse Honor.
“Kayla has worked very hard and today she rode very strong,” said Jason Amy, Kayla’s father and Northwood’s co-athletic director. “We are proud of all her dedication that she’s shown through the years. It’s taken a lot of time and effort to get to the point that she is at. And her mom Heather deserves a great deal of credit as well. She’s been behind Kayla every step of the way with support for anything she’s needed.”
If winning the championship wasn’t enough, Amy received something later in the week that just topped things off — a letter from the St. Andrews University Equestrian program officially offering the local rider.
“St. Andrews is where she had wanted to be,” Jason Amy said of his daughter, who he said felt right at home at the small university in Laurinburg. “She really like the program, the coach, the facilities — it just always seemed to be ahead of the other schools she had spoken with.”
The St. Andrews Equestrian team competes in the fall and spring and this past season traveled to schools such as East Carolina, Wake Forest, Utah State, Virginia, Ohio and others to face some of the top competition in the nation.
“As with any student-athlete at Northwood, it’s a great thing when they get to continue their athletics in college,” added Amy. “To have your daughter get the opportunity is a truly special.”
Kayla Amy wasn’t the only Chatham County rider to take home a title at the Triangle Horse Show as Chatham Central freshman Sholl Burkhead won the Circuit Championship for the Children’s Hunter Division in the 12-14 year-old Equitation Division.
“We were so happy for Sholl as well — she’s really a rising star,” said Amy. “She’s a name that people in Chatham County will be hearing about. She also trains with Mary Jones at Cedar Hill Sport Horses, and we can’t say enough about the job that Mary does.”