|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
Click on photos to enlarge and see captions.
Several members of the Woodside Vaulters equestrian vaulting club are competing at the world vaulting championship this week in Le Mans, France.
Equestrian vaulting involves gymnastics and dance performed on a cantering horse.
Below is information about the competitors from Carrie Wick, a spokesperson for Woodside Vaulters:
Two women and two men are competing as individuals, and six are competing as a squad, from the Woodside Vaulters equestrian vaulting club, at the Fédération Equestre Internationale (FEI) World Vaulting Championship on Aug. 16, 17 and 18.
The individual vaulters are Alicen Divita, Katharine Wick, Gabe Aniello and Patrick Stevens. They are coached by Woodside Vaulters’ head coach Isabelle Parker.
Alicen Divita . A two-time U.S. champion, Alicen Divita placed 7th overall at the World Equestrian Games in Lexington, Kentucky, in 2010. She also competed at the Vaulting World Championship in Brno, Czech Republic, in 2008 and was the U.S. women’s alternate at the 2006 World Equestrian Games in Aachen, Germany. The 23 year-old Divita lives in Redwood City and is a 2011 graduate of the University of California, Berkeley.
Katharine Wick is the 2011 women’s reserve national champion and was a member of Woodside Vaulters national champion squads in 2007 and 2011. She was invited to compete in four FEI Vaulting World Cup events in Europe in 2011 where she consistently placed well among the world’s top vaulters, including a fourth-place finish at the prestigious Munich Indoors horse show. She was the U.S. women’s alternate at the 2010 World Equestrian Games. Wick, age 19, lives in Hillsborough and graduated from Woodside Priory School. She will attend Bates College in Lewiston, Maine, this fall.
Gabe Aniello began vaulting in Cornelius, Oregon, at age 12 and moved to the San Francisco Peninsula in 2009 to train with Woodside Vaulters. Aniello was a member of Woodside’s 2011 national champion squad. In his first major international competition competing as an individual, he placed sixth at the World Equestrian Festival in Aachen, Germany, in July. In addition to a busy training and work schedule, 21-year-old Aniello coaches Woodside Vaulters’ junior-level individuals and squad. He lives in Redwood City.
Patrick Stevens is the 2011 men’s national champion, and is the Australian National A-Grade Men’s Champion for 2011. He was the U.S. men’s alternate at the 2010 World Equestrian Games in Lexington, Kentucky. Stevens, age 20, is also a coach for Woodside Vaulters and for Diablo Valley Vaulters, near his home in Martinez.
The members of the Woodside Vaulters squad competing at the World Championship are Tessa Divita, 14, and Kalyn Geisler, 24, both from Redwood City; Kathryn Jaggers, 18, from Portola Valley; Siddartha Kreaden, 14, from Sunnyvale; Katherine Salisbury, 11, from Atherton; and coach Samantha Matson, 26, from Scotts Valley. The squad’s horse Stanford is a Hanoverian warmblood trained by Julie Divita.
The Woodside squad placed first in all four U.S. Equestrian Federation (USEF) selection trials for the World Championship. Coach Matson is a veteran international competitor. She competed as an individual at the 2002 World Equestrian Games in Jerez de la Frontera, Spain, and at the 2004 World Vaulting Championship in Stadl Paura, Austria. Geisler was a member of the U.S. squad that won bronze at the 2004 Championship in Stadl Paura.
In competitions, vaulters perform compulsory moves and freestyle routines choreographed to music in individual, pas de deux (pair) and squad competition. In the squad freestyle event, up to three vaulters are on the horse at any one time. Vaulting is one of nine disciplines recognized by the FEI, the governing body of equestrian sport.
The Woodside Vaulters equestrian vaulting club provides year-round instruction in all levels of recreational and competitive vaulting, emphasizing horsemanship, safety, team-building, communication skills, fitness and confidence between horse and vaulter. For more information, contact: info@woodsidevaulters.org or visit Woodside Vaulters on Facebook.
-
Alicen Divita showing her freestyle routine with Woodside Vaulters’ Mecklenburger warmblood Giovanni, trained and longed by Krista Mack (foreground). Photo: S. Bors -
Woodside Vaulters’ Gabe Aniello flying high above the horse Giovanni. Photo: Kate Revell/VaultingPhotos.com -
Katharine Wick performing a “needle” in harmony with the cantering Giovanni. Photo: W. Wick -
Patrick Stevens displaying his freestyle skill at the 2011 U.S. National Championship in Denver. Photo: Primo Ponies -
The Woodside Squad performing its freestyle routine to Tchaikovsky’s “Swan Lake” with their Hanoverian warmblood Stanford. Photo: S. Bors
Redwood City attorney sues ‘First Amendment auditors’ after Menlo Park disputeApril 2, 2026 11:31 am
