Armonk Native Reed Kessler Makes Olympic Debut

At 18, Reed Kessler has already accomplished a big feat: competing in the Olympic equestrian round in London.

Kessler, who is formerly from Armonk - she moved to Kentucky earlier this year, according to published reports - made her debut this weekend, at London's Greenwich Park for team jumping rounds. According to her biography, she is one of the youngest olympic riders in history.

According to the official results, Team USA passed the qualifying round on Saturday; Kessler's rank was =33 and she had a bib of 387. On Sunday, the team finished 7th, which is good enough to allow them to compete in round 2 on Monday. In both times, Kessler rode aboard the horse Cylana. Team USA had 8 penalities for Sunday.

At the same time, Kessler has individual results, and is still in the qualifying rounds. She had a rank of 33 in the first qualifying round on Saturday, and of 45 in the second qualifying round on Sunday. The third individual qualifying round, on Monday, coincides with the second team round.

Kessler has a particular interest in jumping.

“This is fun for me,” she told USA Today. “I don’t have any other hobbies outside of riding. This is it. This is like a big vacation. Like someone goes to a resort or goes shopping.”

Reacting to Team USA's Sunday finished, Kessler tweeted: "two rails with big mama today- [teammate] Rich Fellers is my hero!!!! still in medal contention gotta bring it tomorrow!!!"

Aside from having Armonk ties, Kessler also lived in Bedford for a time, according to The Record-Review.