Saturday, December 1
For a 30-year-old, Elizabeth Quirk of Denham Springs, Louisiana brought a long list of accomplishments to the Mercuria NCHA Non-Pro World Finals.

In 2003, she was NCHA Limited Age Event Rookie of the Year, thanks in part to a win in the NCHA Amateur Derby. In 2007, she was NCHA Senior Youth World Champion with 352 points, a record that stands to this day. That year she also won the Welch Memorial Award. In 2017, she was inducted into the NCHA Non-Pro Hall of Fame.

On Saturday, she added the NCHA World Finals and World Championship to her credits. She marked 227.5 on Cat Sheree to win the fourth round of competition. Her go-round scores of 219 / 220 / 224 / 227.5 gave her a total of 890.5 to take the non-working finals, plus earnings of $20,036 for the show championship.

Her year-end total of $120,587 gave her a $46,981 margin over Reserve World Champion Bill Cowan. That’s the third biggest championship margin in NCHA Non-Pro history, trailing only two-time World Champion Dan Hansen ($65,964 in 2011) and eight-time World Champion Mary Jo Milner ($56,179 in 2001).

At the World Finals, Quirk rode Cat Sheree, a High Brow CD mare bred by Bill Paxton out of Nurse Sheree, by Peptoboonsmal. Cat Sheree was an NCHA Futurity Limited Open champion with Wayne Robinson, and carried Quirk to two Mercuria NCHA World Series titles. The 8-year-old has now earned more than $253,000.

During the point year, Quirk also earned money on B Nimble, Catillac Reys, Cats Out Of The Bag, Holmeboy, Kattalyst, Under The Reydar and Wood U N Me Baby.

Taking the Reserve World Championship, Bill Cowan of Ardmore, Oklahoma is an NCHA Hall of Fame Non-Pro. He showed Billies Catty at the World Finals. He also showed Hya Lights Me Now during the regular season for total earnings of $73,696.

Mary Jo Milner of Southlake, Tex., was the top Non-Pro to ride a single horse during the year. She showed Little Pepto Cat, finishing fourth in the World Standings.