SWEET BRIAR, Va. – The Sweet Briar College Riding Program has announced a realignment of the coaching staff for the National Collegiate Equestrian Association (NCEA), Intercollegiate Horse Shows Association (IHSA), and show teams.
Current IHSA Head Coach
Lizzie Fisch will now serve as the NCEA jumping seat coach and co-coach for the show team.
Taking over head coaching duties for the IHSA program is
Sarah Miller '20, who will join Fisch as a co-coach of the show team.
Riding instructor Shannon Ferguson is set to join the coaching staff as the new assistant IHSA coach.
Director of Riding, Merrilee "Mimi" Wroten '93, explained that it isn't often that a program has multiple coaches with this level of experience. Wroten says, "I am excited for our students to have access to four quality coaches that bring multiple years of knowledge, experience, and passion to coaching our teams."
As head coach of the IHSA team, Fisch was named Zone 4 Region 4 Coach of the Year in 2023 and 2025. In her 14 seasons, she has led the Vixens to 6 Region Championships, 5 Region Reserve Championships, and 2 Zone Reserve Championships. Her two team appearances at Nationals resulted in an eighth-place finish in 2019 and a team third-place National finish in 2022. Additionally, Fisch has coached the 2018 USEF Cacchione Cup Winner Makayla Benjamin Fedder '18, along with four other riders who received national accolades.
Emmy Longest '22 was the Open Equitation on the Flat National Champion, Sarah Hibler '14 was the Intermediate over fences Reserve National Champion, Abby Narodowy '20 was the Novice equitation on the Flat Reserve National Champion, and Rachel Chard '26 was the Intermediate equitation on the Flat Reserve National Champion.
In addition, she has had 13 top-10 individual placings at the IHSA National Championships.
Miller returned to her alma mater in 2021. As a student-athlete, she was a member of the IHSA and NCEA team, contributing to three Region Championships. She finished in the top 10 at IHSA Nationals in 2019. Miller has been a part of the coaching staff for two of the College's Region Championships, its Zone Reserve Championship in 2022, and its Reserve Region Championship in 2026. In addition, she was the assistant coach to the team that finished in third place at IHSA Nationals in 2022.
Ferguson came to Sweet Briar in 2025 following more than 20 years of experience in the equestrian industry. As a professional, she has provided top-level instruction to students at the local and national levels of show hunters and equitation. Ferguson has worked with numerous well-known professionals, including Oliver Brown, Meg Graham, Glenn Moody, Chris Wynne, Zach Parks, Jason Berry, and Anne Kursinski. She has trained and ridden an international Hunter Futurity Champion and a VHSA 3-year-old Champion, while training Ariat Medal finals qualifiers, VHSA Equitation winners, and numerous horses and riders.
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