Islander Maxi Gumprecht, 17, was selected as the 2008 Reserve Youth of the Year at the 2008 Grand National & World Championship Morgan Horse Show, held in early October at the Oklahoma State Fairgrounds in Oklahoma City.

Gumprecht, a 2007 graduate of Mercer Island High School, is a freshman Hodson Scholar at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and is working toward a five-year Master’s program in International Relations and Business. Gumprecht, a decorated young horsewoman before she completed high school, played varsity soccer in high school, was a member of the steel drum band and studied Chinese.

The contestants for the Youth of the Year honor participate in a rigorous four-part test over the course of two days. Included are a written exam, an oral presentation and rigorous riding exercises. Her most recent accomplishments at the Grand Nationals and World Championships also included riding and placing in several events on five different horses. Last February, she was awarded four National “People’s Choice” awards, based on independent surveys of judges, trainers and others in the equine world.

Her mother, Bonnie Witrak, notes that when not in school, Maxi trains up to seven hours a day on horses that are stabled in Buckley, Wash.

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