{"id":8944,"date":"2016-09-30T17:26:35","date_gmt":"2016-09-30T17:26:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/idsunmedia.com\/?p=8944"},"modified":"2016-09-30T17:26:35","modified_gmt":"2016-09-30T17:26:35","slug":"mckenna-norris","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/2016\/09\/30\/mckenna-norris\/","title":{"rendered":"McKenna Norris"},"content":{"rendered":"

BY JONATHAN KANE<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

M\"bc_school_spotlight_2x3\"cKenna Norris, a senior at Wood River High School carrying a 3.8 grade point average, vice president of the Spirit Club and a member of the Key Club, will be competing this week at the Equestrian U.S. Nationals in the Hunter Jumper discipline.<\/p>\n

\u201cRiding horses is my main love in life,\u201d Norris said. \u201cIt gives you the opportunity to have an unspoken relationship with an animal as well as giving you a means of communication with that animal. That communication is the main reason that I\u2019m so passionate about the sport.\u201d<\/p>\n

Norris grew up on a horse property outside of Seattle, where she started riding. Her family moved to the Wood River Valley when she was in sixth grade<\/p>\n

Her earliest memory is when she won a pony lead-line class when she was 6 years old. There was an article about her in her local newspaper.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was amazing,\u201d Norris said. \u201cI was on cloud nine.\u201d<\/p>\n

A big part of Hunter Jumper competition is based on the rider\u2019s appearance, and how the rider presents herself to the judges.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have recently switched my training to Santa Rosa, Calif.,\u201d said Norris, \u201cbecause there are so many more opportunities to ride and I felt I could go further in the sport.\u201d<\/p>\n

Norris has proved that to be true by qualifying for the Nationals for the first time, which will be held this weekend in Maryland and Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are just really hard to qualify for,\u201d she said. \u201cI felt I didn\u2019t have enough shows and not enough points, but somehow the stars aligned. I\u2019m just totally overjoyed. I never expected to go East for it after watching it on a live feed every year. It\u2019s truly amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the competition, the riders and horses are judged on rhythm and form as they execute eight to 13 jumps. The events are not timed.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s called Hunter Jumper because it is derived from the traditional form of fox hunting,\u201d Norris said. \u201cWhat you are doing today is hunting the jumps.\u201d<\/p>\n

The event will be one or two rounds and there will be 300 competitors. Norris feels her strength as a top competitor comes \u201cfrom my thought process toward the sport. It\u2019s how I prepare before I go in that really counts. Then I have to remember to always breathe and walk into the arena with confidence and then it\u2019s just getting that first jump in.\u201d<\/p>\n

The process of jumping only takes a few minutes.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut the Nationals will be a whole new world for me and nerves will be at an all-time high,\u201d Norris said. \u201cBut what I really can\u2019t get my head around is who I\u2019ll be competing against. These girls are all my idols from back East and my inspiration. It\u2019s hard to believe I\u2019ll be going up against them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Editor\u2019s Note:<\/i><\/b> Anyone who would like to recommend a Blaine County School District student for The Weekly Sun\u2019s \u201cStudent Spotlight\u201d feature should contact Jonathan Kane at jkjonkane@gmail.com.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BY JONATHAN KANE McKenna Norris, a senior at Wood River High School carrying a 3.8 grade point average, vice president of the Spirit Club and a member of the Key Club, will be competing this week at the Equestrian U.S. Nationals in the Hunter Jumper discipline. \u201cRiding horses is my main love in life,\u201d Norris […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8945,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","_pvb_checkbox_block_on_post":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[32,38,41],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-8944","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-schools","8":"category-sponsored","9":"category-student-spotlight"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8944","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8944"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8944\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8945"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8944"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8944"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8944"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}