Local Youth Compete At Nationals

By NICK YAMASHITA

The Progress

Several youth rodeo competitors have attended national championship events over the past summer.

A group of high school-aged athletes represented the community and the state at the National High School Rodeo Finals event in Lincoln, Nebraska on July 18-21.

Another group of middle school-age athletes rode at the National Junior High School Finals in Des Moines, Iowa on June 20-26.

“It was so great seeing the outcome of all the kids in our valley for the season and the accomplishments they have achieved,” said Amber Fuller, parent to two of the athletes.

The National HS Finals Rodeo brought together competitors, from all over the United States, including Hawaii and Alaska. It also brought in athletes from Mexico and Canada.

In order to qualify to represent Team Nevada, the athletes had to finish in the top 4 for the event at the state competition which took place in Winnemucca in the last week of May.

At the high school nationals, local youth Andun Pratt who rode as an MVHS senior this year competed in the Bareback Bronc event. Pratt had placed 2nd in the Nevada State finals. At the Nationals, Pratt only had one ride scored at 56 and he tied for 53rd place in the nation.

MVHS sophomore Andi Webber competed at the state finals in a number of different events but didn’t qualify for nationals in any of them. At state, she took 13th in Breakaway Roping with 74 points, 9th in Goat Tying with 130 points and 33rd in Team Roping with 50 points,

At the state level, Rilee Christensen took 7th in Breakaway Roping with 139.50 points, 8th in Girls Cutting with 172.75 points and 21st in Team Roping with 85.50 points. But it was her 226 points in the Goat Tying event that earned her a 3rd place berth in the state and sent her to the national finals. At Nationals, Christensen took 30th in Goat Tying.

MVHS freshman Hannah Fullmer was named All Around Rookie of the Year at the Nevada State finals. She qualified for two national events at the State championships. She tied for 3rd place in Goat Tying with 226 points. She also took second place in Pole Bending with 254.5 points and a short go time of 20.668 for her fastest round.

In other events at state Hannah placed 12th in Barrel Racing with 62.50 points, 12th in Breakaway Roping with 76 points, and 33rd in Team Roping at 50 points (partners with Andi Webber).

At Nationals, Hannah Fulmer ran into some tough luck. In her favorite event of Goat Tying, she had a goat get up out of being tied before the 6 second rule and placed 148th with a score of 11.47. Despite that, she still holds the Lancaster Events Center, Nebraska arena record for goat tying, set in 2019 with a 6.75 second run.

Hannah’s other event was pole bending in which she took 79th with 47.697. She did well though in the first go with a time of 20.750 seconds and got 9th place for that round.

Trinity Scronce took 11th at State with 78 points in Breakaway Roping. She also took 45th in Team Roping with 22 points. Her best finish was 6th in Barrel Racing with 183 points.
Paver Scronce took 7th in Trap Shoot with 34 points.

Three students qualified to compete at nationals at the Middle School age level.
Ellie (Jojo) Webber was the Reserve All Around Cowgirl at the State Championship. As an 8th grader, she also was the Champion for Goat Tying and Reserve Pole Bending.

But at Nationals Webber didn’t do as well. She took 152nd in Goat Tying, 53rd in Pole Bending, and 60th in Breakaway Roping.

Sydney Fuller competed in six events at State. The 8th Grader took the NV State All Around Cowgirl, Champion of Barrel Racing, and Top 5 of each Event, National Team Qualifier for 2 events. At Nationals, she took 39th in Barrel Racing,

Cade Steward is a 6th grader who took 2021 All Around Rookie of the Year at State. He also won the Silver State Invitational Rodeo Top 5 recognition and an All Star Team Champion.

The High School Rodeo will be coming to Moapa Valley on November 19-21. Currently there are only three members of the MVHS Rodeo Club.

Amber Fullmer highlighted the importance of youth rodeo, “It is all about the kids and their success,” she said. “It doesn’t matter if they are in the rodeo club or independent or with another association. The important thing is we recognize and give credit to their success.”