By Tommy Beason '24 and Summer 2025 Intern 

The first Tuesday of each month, we interview someone from Charlotte Latin Athletics with twenty questions to help the CLS community get to know some of our athletes, coaches, and supporters a bit better.

This month, meet senior Eloise Eirich: Eloise joined the Latin community in 2022 as a freshman after moving to Charlotte from Louisville, Kentucky. She runs track and cross country, while competing as an equestrian outside of school. She qualified for the International World Cup in South Africa where she helped Team USA finish 2nd. While remaining extremely busy, she hopes to make the most of her senior year at Latin and maintain a balanced lifestyle. Continue reading to learn more about the Eloise:

1. When did you come to Latin? Can you describe your transition?
I came to Latin my freshman year. I had just moved from Kentucky a few weeks before school started, so that was an abrupt transition. But, I joined the cross country team before I actually started school so I got to know a few people, which made the transition a little bit easier.

2. What is the biggest thing you have learned about yourself since being at Latin?
I learned that I'm capable of taking on a lot more work than I maybe thought I would have been able to. I feel like there are really high standards, but I feel like I learned how to manage that all and then want to take on even more work and try to achieve higher things even. I think that's just the environment that's created.

3. What have been some of your favorite classes and academic memories you've experienced at Latin?
I loved my APUSH (AP U.S. History) class this past year with Mr. Weiss. He's also my cross country coach. He was a great teacher and I loved his style of teaching in his class. And then I also loved my biology class last year with Ms. Coble. She's just the best. She's literally the best teacher ever. In terms of my favorite academic memories, I think they would have to be my chemistry class as a sophomore or my math class last year. Both those classes were really difficult and I had to really learn how to study and grasp the material because it didn't come that easily to me. It was just really satisfying when I would actually get the concepts and do well then in the class because I could see how my hard work was paying off.

4. What has been your favorite athletic memory at Latin?
Probably anything to do with my running group for cross country and track. I'm super close with them and they're like my best friends. Any time we're at meets and we get to hang out together is awesome. Specifically, this one time we were at a meet at Country Day and it was storming really bad. The whole thing was canceled, but it just kept getting delayed and delayed and delayed until it was canceled. We were all just sitting in someone's car and talking for two hours and I feel like that is the best part, having so many friends there.

5. Which teachers or coaches have you connected with the most since being at Latin and why?
Definitely Coach Weiss and Coach Mercer. All of my cross country coaches are great, but especially those two. They're just so welcoming and they really put in the effort from the day you show up on the team to get to know you and connect to you. They say they are going to talk to everyone before practice today and they really do. They mean it. Even if it's quick like, how'd that go? How was your day? Or a deeper, longer conversation. They're really invested in you no matter where you are on the team and I think that is just great. I'm really sad that I have to leave the team next year.

6. How did you get into riding horses?
My family moved to Louisville, Kentucky when I was about six and Louisville is kinda known as the horse capital of the world, or the country some people would say. There was a barn that was like 15 minutes from my house and I'd always loved horses growing up, but I'd never had the chance to actually take lessons because most of the time barns are really far away. My parents signed me up for lessons and I don't think anyone thought that I would become really serious about it. But I loved it immediately. I've always loved animals. And it was super convenient, so I just kept going. And then I got more and more serious about it as I improved.

7. I hear you're the Vice President for The American Saddlebred Association of the Carolinas. How did you get involved with that organization?
That organization, we call it ASAC, has a youth board that organizes a bunch of fundraising for different organizations regarding horses, and then organizes events for younger kids at shows. And my barn in particular has always been very involved in it. Most years we've made up the majority of the members on that  board. This is my third year on it. As a freshman one of my trainers at my barn encouraged me to apply for it. I was the treasurer for two years and I was the vice president this year. The president of the board is one of my good friends at my barn so just connections from there. I was encouraged to really get more involved within the show horse community because we're all really close and everyone knows everyone. That's a great way to experience more of that.

8. How were you selected to represent Team USA in the International World Cup? And what event did you participate in?
Anyone could apply, but there were a few different rounds during the application process and you had to get selected from each round to move on to the next step. Initially, I completed a form that listed my experience and show results. They review that and decide if you meet the standards. If you moved on from that, you send in a five minute video compilation of you at shows, lessons, and showcasing everything you can do. Another review and then they picked 12 people to come to in-person tryouts in Missouri. At tryouts, there are four rounds of riding and competing on different horses you've never met, and they pick the top six finishers. I placed fifth and got selected that way. That was an intense process, but it was really, really cool. My event is called Saddle Seat. It uses Saddlebred horses. There's different breeds of horses, and different breeds of horses have different confirmations to them, kind of like dogs do. They are not as drastically different, but for most horses, the difference in confirmation is that their necks are lower set, their steps are naturally lower to the ground, or they just move in different ways. Saddlebred horses have a really unique way of moving. They were actually bred during the Civil War to be war horses so they were bred for that type of movement, with a high head, really smooth. Saddle Seat is all about how good horse manners are, how smoothly they move, and how exciting they are. It is important how you use the ring to make yourself stand out in a group of 10 or 12 and then also perform patterns within the ring. Another factor is how willing your horse is to stop and stand when you're telling them to do something new and they don't know what's coming next. They're all judged on that kind of stuff. I always compare it to Dressage riding, because I feel like people might be more familiar with them. It's kind of similar in that sense.

9. How was your experience representing the U.S. in South Africa?
Ever since it happened, I've said that was the best week of my entire life. It was the coolest experience to be able to travel internationally and compete like that. I learned so much and we all were saying at the end of it that we got pushed so much and we had to really dig deep during that week of competing. We all grew a lot as people and as riders from that and we bonded deeply with the team. I'd never met any of the girls before going there and we still talk every day. We got so close. The competition was between us, South Africa and Canada. It was really close between us and South Africa. There were two days of competition with two rounds in each one, and going into the second day we were right on the heels of South Africa. We thought we might be able to win but we came in second. We were disappointed because we really wanted to win, but we were all really proud of each other because we all put so much into it. (Click here to see Eloise and her USA teammates introduced at the International World Cup last December. Eloise enters at the 1:06 mark and is introduced at the 7:45 mark.)

10. How did you get into running?
I started running cross country when I was in second grade. My mom was a big runner when I was younger, and she used to run marathons. She had to stop running eventually due to some heel problems, but she signed me up for cross country when I was around seven because she thought I might enjoy it and burn off some energy. I always loved it. I just loved the time I got to spend with my friends and I always just found running relaxing and a good way to blow off some steam. I ran all through elementary school. I did track in middle school, but I played golf instead of running cross country. And then when we moved (to Charlotte), I decided to go back to cross country.

11. How do you compare your experiences between cross country and track and field?
It's a pretty similar group of people who do both. In that sense, it's kind of the same feeling. I prefer cross country a little bit more because it's a bigger group of about 60 distance runners for cross country. Track is a bigger team, but a smaller group of distance runners. They're pretty similar, though. I love both of them but I think cross country bonds people a little bit more because you're running for longer, and the workouts are a little harder, and in track it's only the event groups really bonding because it's not like the events train the same way. 

12. What is your family dynamic like at home?
I'm really close to my family. I love my parents. They're just the best. They're my parents, but they're also my friends. At least one of them always comes with me to all of my horse shows, all of my meets. My dad works out of town Monday through Friday, so that's kind of tough sometimes, but he always makes the effort to show up for all of that stuff whenever he can, which I appreciate. I also have a younger sister who has special needs, but we've always been super close. She's the sweetest kid in the world. I've just always been super, super close to my family, which I feel lucky for.

13. What was your dream job as a kid?
As a kid, I really wanted to be a horse trainer because from the second I started riding, I was at the barn as often as I possibly could be. I'd come from sports practice at school to my riding lesson and then I'd be at the barn for an extra three hours after that, just following around the older girls or following around my trainer and just learning everything I could. Probably until I was like 10 or 11, I really seriously thought that I might go to school for equine business or something and start working at a barn. I don't want to do that anymore, but I did when I was little.

14. What is your dream job now?
I don't know. I'm not too sure what I want to do. I've thought about maybe becoming some type of therapist before, whether it's occupational or PT or something like that. I volunteer at a barn called Shining Hope that does therapeutic riding and hippotherapy. I have volunteered there for two years now and I love it so much. I've seen how important the work that they do is and I've heard from people a lot of my life that I should be a therapist. People say I'm very calm. But I have started seriously considering that a little bit more because I do love the volunteering work that I do and seeing its impact. I'm taking psychology this year which may help me figure out if a career in therapy is right for me. I'm excited for it. I feel like it's going to be fun.

15. Who are your biggest role models?
Probably my parents because they work so hard to let me have the best life possible, and I'm super appreciative of that. They're also just great people in general. I'm very grateful for them for raising me the way that they did. They always jokingly say "oh, we did good." And I'm like, you did, you guys are really great people. I try to be like them. I also admire my trainers at my barn for some of the same reasons; they're just super hardworking and they're incredible teachers. They care so deeply for every client they have and every horse and it's not easy to always remain that cool, calm and collected when you are sometimes working with people or especially with animals that don't always want to do what you want them to do. That's always been so impressive for me. It's not an easy job, but they're there every day and they love it. And I just admire them so much.

16. What's your lucky number and why?
Thirteen because I've loved Taylor Swift ever since I was very little, and since I was probably like four years old, I knew that 13 was her favorite number. And so I was like, oh, well, it has to be mine then. I made the decision that it was lucky for me and then it has been lucky for me since then.

17. How would your teachers describe you?
Probably pretty quiet, but I think also hardworking. I try very hard to be very organized and on top of everything with my classes. And even if I'm quiet in class, I am pretty good about speaking up and advocating for myself to make sure I'm getting what I need.

18. How would your coaches describe you?
Maybe a little less quiet, but probably still the same. I try to be pretty involved with the team and as I've gotten older, really make sure that the younger girls that are coming onto the team feel as welcome as I did when I first got to the team. I think I'm quiet, but also still a leader and still welcoming and caring. I try to be as caring as I can.

19. How would you like people from Charlotte Latin to remember you?
Definitely someone who's kind and welcoming to everyone. I feel like you don't have to be best friends with someone or get along super great with them to still be kind to them. That's kind of how I try to go through my everyday life, just no matter who it is, say hi, smile, connect with the people around me. It's not going to hurt you to be nice to everyone. So why wouldn't you?

20. What does Charlotte Latin mean to you?
It means hard work and community. No matter if you're in your classes or if you're playing a sport, the expectations are still the same, that you're working hard and you're putting your all into something, and that you're still being a good human being.