In most sports, there is plenty of time to beat down your competition.  Basketball games are made up of four eight-minute quarters.  A soccer game lasts two forty-minute halves.  Baseball is made up of seven innings and even short as it is, wrestling has three two-minute periods.  But then there is rodeo that allows a cowboy only one ride for the night that will literally last only seconds.

For those few seconds in the arena in the attempt of coming out number one, competitors practice hours in preparation, spending thousands of dollars on equipment, tack, and horses, traveling hundreds of thousands of miles around the country to compete.  And while that might sound nearly insane, the rush of the ride is well worth it all.

Just recently, some of Oneida County’s best high school cowboys and cowgirls stepped in the arena to compete at the very highest level of competition- the National High School Rodeo.  Held in Rock Springs Wyoming, the rodeo began Sunday, July 14 and concluded Saturday, July 20.  The week-long rodeo featured two go’s for each competitor with a final fast go for the leaders in each event.  Following the three go’s, a final average or aggregate score was tallied up to determine the overall winner of the finals rodeo.

Included in the lineup of more than 1,500 other cowboys and cowgirls hailing from 47 states and provinces around the United States and Canada were Lincoln Reeder, Ruger Smith and Bella.  Lincoln competed in the bareback riding, qualifying at the state finals in third place after scoring on three of his four rides.  Ruger also qualified for the national rodeo in tie down roping, placing third at state on three top ten finishes including his first place win in the second go.  Competing in breakaway, Bella Smith qualified to compete at the high school national finals with a fourth place finish at the state level, narrowly missing third by only 0.5 points.

Like the state finals rodeo, each go of the National High School Finals Rodeo was divided up into multiple performances with a morning and evening rodeo each day.  The week-long rodeo also included the national high school queen contest, reining and cutting competitions, as well as rifle and skeet shooting competitions.

The local cowboys and cowgirl had some ups and downs along the way with both good days with good rides and bad days with missed rides.  Lincoln scored a 64 on his first ride despite being disappointed with his horse’s performance.  In the second go, Lincoln scored a 44 after the flank strap came off.  He chose to take the reride option where he came off before the eight second mark.

Bella Smith missed in first breakaway performance but found her groove to catch on her second rodeo.  With a time of 4.73, Bella found herself in the middle of the pack.

Competing in the tie-down roping, Ruger roped with great success, getting a time with each go.  Coming back for the final go, Ruger placed 6th with a 9.45.  His combined score earned him a final 10th place finish out of nearly 200 ropers.

Earlier in the summer, the a number of Malad’s future high school rodeoers qualified to compete in the national Jr High Finals Rodeo in Des Moines, Iowa.  Competing for Idaho from Oneida county was Bronson Smith in bull riding, bareback riding, and saddle bronc, Rawzen Munns in chute dogging, Oak Smith in chute dogging and tie down roping, and Steelee Smith in ribbon roping.

While qualifying for the national rodeo is an impressive feat of its own, these rodeo athletes found a number of successes as they competed.  The greatest excitement for the bunch was the overall second place finish Bronson secured with three qualifying rides of 63 points for 7th place, 66 points for 3rd place, and 68 for 6th place.  Bronson narrowly missed coming in first place as he trailed by just 0.5 points at the end of the rodeo.   

They may be competing for just a few short seconds in the arena, but it is clear to see that these athletes know how to make the most of those few seconds.