Emery County Students to compete in State Rodeo Finals.

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Junior high and high school students from across the county have qualified to attend the Junior High and High School rodeo state finals.
Junior high rodeo has five qualifying rodeos during the spring rodeo season. Contestants must finish in the top 10 in an event at one of the five rodeos to qualify for state. State junior high finals takes place in Heber City June 1-2.
Six students in grades six through eight have qualified for the Junior High Finals. Junior high rodeo has events aimed at preparing participants for high school rodeo. Bareback riding and saddle bronc riding is actually done using steers. The regular riggings, saddles, and halters are used that would be used on bucking horses. Boys can compete in breakaway roping and goat tying. The two events together prepare them for calf roping in the high school events. Ribbon roping is a team event where one person ropes the calf then dismounts and holds the calf while the partner grabs a ribbon from the tail and runs on foot to the judge.
Austin Allred qualified in the bull riding when he took third place in the Tooele Rodeo. He is the 14 year old son of Cody and Melissa Allred of Cleveland. He attends Canyon View Junior High. His interests are breaking and riding horses, helping out on the family ranch/farm and most of all teasing his brother and sisters.
McKoy Christiansen attends San Rafael Junior High. He is the son of Kirk and Mistie Christiansen of Emery. He is qualified in saddle bronc, bareback riding, tie down calf roping, goat tying and ribbon roping. He will compete in ribbon roping with Riata Christiansen.
Riata is a sixth grader at Ferron Elementary and is the daughter of Kirk and Mistie Christiansen. Riata competed on Thursday for Junior High State Rodeo Queen and was selected as First Attendant.
Ty Gordon, son of Kevin and Dawnette Gordon qualified in boy’s breakaway roping and ribbon roping. He lives in Huntington and attends Canyon View Junior High.
Louie Ivie attends Canyon View Junior High and lives in Huntington. He is the son of Kip and Brandi Ivie. He qualified in team roping, boys goat tying and ribbon roping.
Taylor Wilstead attends Canyon View Junior High and qualified in team roping and boys breakaway.
High school state finals is June 5-9 in Heber City. High school rodeo is open to contestants in grades nine-12. Five students qualified for state.
Teigan Adams just graduated from Emery High and is the 18 year old daughter of Gary and Amy Adams. She enters the state competition ranked number two in barrelracing. She is ranked in the top 25 in breakaway roping and pole bending and will also compete in those events.
Taylen Nielsen, a junior, is the son of Shane and Laurel Nielsen. He will compete in team roping with Hadley Cloward. Hadley is the son of Cory and Shannon Cloward. Hadley attended San Rafael Junior High. Both students call Castle Dale home.
Hayden Cloward of Castle Dale is the son of Cory and Shannon Cloward. He qualified for the junior high finals in boy’s goat tying.
Hanna Nielsen is the daughter of Shane and Laurel Nielsen and will compete in breakaway roping. She will be a 10th grader at Emery High this fall.
Cindi Lynn Stevens is the daughter of Gary and JoLene Stevens. She competes in barrel racing and pole bending on her horse Cookie, she has qualified to compete in barrel racing at the state level in high school rodeo. She has enjoyed her time doing high school rodeo. It has helped her become a better rider, and be more independent. While competing in high school rodeo, she is gone every weekend, and when she is home she is just trying to balance school work and riding her horses. Through struggle, tears and hard work she has made it to state. Her goals are to do well at state, and then go to college, and go to barrel races as much as she can.
To learn more about junior high and high school rodeo visit www.uhrsa.org. Good luck to all the contestants at the junior high and high school rodeo state finals.