The 2011 Clark County Rodeo Royalty Contest took place on Saturday. Pictured l to r 2010 Queen Sarah Hendrix, 2011 Queen contest winner Carly Alexander, 2011 Princess contest winner Shiley Blackwell and 2010 Princess Makenzie Bush.

By Catherine Ellerton

Moapa Valley Progress

The Old Logandale School was the setting of the Clark County Rodeo Royalty Contest on Saturday, March 26.

Outgoing royalty, 2010 Queen Sarah Hendrix and the Princess Makenzie Bush, took a moment to reminisce about their journey. These young ladies are extremely poised, outgoing and mature.

Hendrix is a student at Southern Utah University in Cedar City majoring in pre-nursing. She hopes to eventually be a Pediatric Nurse. She has been involved in 4-H and hopes to eventually run for Miss Rodeo America.

Makenzie is a freshman at MVHS. She has been involved in 4-H and FFA and plans to major in Public Speaking when she goes to college.

Both ladies stated that one of their favorite things accomplished in the many events they have attendedover the year was to be an “example to little kids – someone they can look up to.”

The Princess candidates must be 12 to 16 years of age and the Queen candidates must be 17 to 23 years of age. They are judged on personality, appearance, speech and horsemanship. These talents are displayed in the all day contest which includes speeches and interviews and horsemanship abilities in the ring.

The royalty spends the next year attending various parades and rodeos throughout the state being the chosen Ambassadors of the sport of rodeo. During the rodeo they are busy assisting the pick up men, pushing steers and warming up the pick up horses in addition to riding the Queen Run at the beginning of each rodeo.

This busy, nerve wracking day was coordinated by Mandy Davis and Jennifer Marshall. The Master of Ceremonies was Tami Blasingame.

The 2011 Clark County Rodeo Queen and winner of the $8,000.00 scholarship was Carly Alexander an MVHS graduate and a freshman at Southern Utah University majoring in Animal Science. The Queen runner up was Alyssa O’Toole, a freshman at the University of Nevada in Reno.

The 2011 Rodeo Princess was Shiley Blackwell an eighth grade student at Mack Lyon Middle School whose future plans include Equestrian Studies. Another Mack Lyon Middle School eighth grader Rachel Paystrup was Princess Runner up.

The Miss Congeniality Award was presented to Laura Zundel, a student at MVHS.