Youth Rodeo Champ Finishes First High School Rodeo Season

By Vernon Robison

Moapa Valley Progress

Moapa resident and youth rodeo champion Aspyn Civil ended a successful first season of high school rodeo competition last week. The 15 year old who will be a sophomore at Moapa Valley High School this fall just completed a big rodeo summer which took her from the Nevada State Competition in Elko, Nevada to the National High School Finals Rodeo in Gillette, Wyoming as well as several stops in between.

As a high school freshman, this past year has been Aspyn’s first to compete in the Senior Girl Division ages 14-18.

Though new to the division, Aspyn is not new to the sport. She started competing when she was eight years old. She has won various awards and prizes in Jr. High School Rodeo divisions and also in National Little Britches Rodeo Association competition where she has competed for the past seven years. The family’s living room is filled with numerous prize saddles and Aspyn has around 100 prize belt buckles she has won over the years.

Despite all of this experience, entering the senior high school division seemed a big step in the level of competition. “She was competing against girls a lot older than her with more experience,” said Civil’s grandfather Joe Rivera. “But she held her own pretty well.”

At the Nevada State Finals held in Elko in mid-June, Aspyn was awarded the Rookie of the Year for a fantastic first season.

She also qualified for the Nationals in the break-away event, a variation of calf roping where a calf is roped, but not thrown and tied. Civil had come into the event with a 5th place ranking from the season competition. But she finished the event in first place.

“She beat out a senior girl who came in second place,” Rivera said.

Competing in other events at the State Finals, Civil also qualified to compete in the Silver State International Rodeo in Winnemucca. These qualifying events included Polebending (6th place), Goat tying (9th), Barrel Racing (11th) and Team Roping (16th bonus event).

During the week of July 4th, Aspyn travelled to Winnemucca, Nevada to compete at the Silver State International Rodeo. There the competition was tough, she said.

“There were a lot of the top girls there from all over the country,” she said. “They were good.”

Of all the events, she ended up qualifying for the short go in barrel racing. The event started with 90 contestants. Aspyn was one of only 15 that made the short go. She finished in sixth place.

A couple of weeks later, July 17-23, found Aspyn in Gillette, Wyoming competing in the National High School Rodeo. This brought together around 1400 contestants from across the country; the best in high school rodeo.

In Civil’s break-away event there were 180 contestants. She feeling the pressure to compete, she said.

“I was okay up until they started calling my name,” Aspyn said. “I got really nervous while I was waiting at the pens. It was just so much bigger than anything else I’d done.”

When her time came, she missed on the first calf and roped the second with a time of 3.1; considered an excellent time for a rookie to the nationals.

“It was only her first year there and she got there and was competing,” said Rivera. “She is just getting started.”

The final event of the season was familiar territory for Aspyn. On July 25-30 she attended her seventh year of National Little Britches Rodeo Association competition in Pueblo, Colorado.

After such a busy summer of travel, Aspyn was taking a well-deserved rest last week. But she will soon start preparations for the next season. Most days she practices 2-3 hours with her horses in an arena on the family’s Moapa property.

The sport takes a lot of time and travel and requires the help of the whole family. Aspyn receives support from her grandparents Joe and Faye Rivera who haul her and her horses to the numerous competitions around the western United States. Once the season gets underway, Aspyn will be travelling almost every weekend between September and November for rodeo events. After a short winter break the season resumes in April again where rodeo events take nearly every weekend again.

“She can’t do a lot of the sports and school activities that other kids do because this takes a good deal of her time,” said Aspyn’s mom Kenna Civil. “But it is what she loves to do.”