NHSFR results posted

NHSFR results posted

Gillette – Several high school rodeo athletes brought home hardware as the National High School Finals Rodeo (NHSFR) wrapped up in Gillette on June 22. 

In the division one standings, Wyoming took fourth overall, with the boysʼ team placing third behind Utah and Texas. 

The girlsʼ team put up a strong finish and ended the NHSFR in sixth place, with Shayda Lesmeister of Rozet claiming All-Around Rookie Cowgirl honors with a point total of 510. 

In the queens contest, Harlee Stokes form Ogden, Utah took the win with a total score of 717.25 points, and Slater Jones, representing Wyoming, took third place with a combined score of 700 points.

The 2023 NHSFR rifle team winner was Kate Godfrey from Idaho with an overall score of 674 points.

Barrel racing

Piper Cordes from Wall, S.D. captured the national barrel racing championship with a strong performance in all three rounds. Cordes won both rounds and finished third in the short go with a time of 17.06 seconds. 

Overall, Cordes won the national title with a time of 50.80 seconds on three runs. She finished nearly a full second ahead of the reserve champion, Skyler Nicholas of Rockdale, Texas. 

Nicholas finished first in the final round with a 16.91-second run, but it was not enough to take the lead from Cordes.

Following close behind in third place was Morgan Beckstrom from Spanish Fork, Utah with a time of 51.86 seconds on all three runs, and a combined total of 52.16 seconds put Abagail Olson of Sheridan in fourth place. 

Bareback riding 

Tuker Carricato, a Saratoga native, finished in the top three in all three rounds of bareback riding at the NHSFR, and took home the championship title with a combined score of 240 points.

Carricato had an 80-point ride in the first round, a 76-point ride in the second round and an 84-point ride in the final round.  

Kashton Ford of Sturgis, S.D. scored 235 points, earning him a second-place finish, and with 233 points, Brayze Schill from West Columbia, Texas placed third.

Boysʼ cutting

A score of 149 points in the final round earned Alabama Cowboy Cody Gann from Leighton the win, with a combined score of 443. 

Aden Bernhagen of Corsicana, Texas scored 148 points in the final round, earning him a second-place finish, with a total score of 441 points. 

Third place winner Drew Sherrerd of Wayne, Okla. placed in the top 10 in each round, giving him a total score of 436.5 points.

Breakaway roping

Kieley Walz of Ainsworth, Neb. took the national championship title in the breakaway roping, finishing first in the first round with a run of 1.97 seconds, first in the second round with a run of 1.95 seconds and third in the final round with a run of 2.27 seconds. Walz ended the week with a total of 6.19 seconds to take home the win. 

Brooke Crenshaw of Colbert, Okla. ran a 6.76-second run to earn second-place honors, and Kentwood, La. athlete Kate Eiland placed third with a total score of 7.12 seconds. 

Bull riding

Wacey Schalla from Arapaho, Okla. scored 86 points in the final round, taking home the national championship with a total score of 228 points, followed closely by Wells, Nev. student Eyer Morrison who placed second with a total score of 227.

Hayden Welsh from Gillette scored a 75 in the first round and an 87 in the final round of the bull riding competition, placing him fifth in the overall bull riding standings. 

Girlsʼ cutting

In the first round of girlsʼ cutting, Sadie Mendenhall, a student from Edmond, Okla., placed eighth with a score of 145.5. Tying for first in the second round with a score of 148, Mendenhall went on to place first in the final round with a score of 148, leaving her with a combined score of 441.5 points to take home the national championship.

Cypress, Texas contender Brinley Lippincott placed second with a combined score of 440.5 points and Trista Ream from Palmyra, Utah chased the title, ending the week with a combined score of 439 points and finishing in third place. 

Goat tying

In one of the largest competitions of the week, over 150 students fought for the national goat tying title. 

Faith Lundberg of Nanton, Alberta, Canada took first place in the final round with a time of 7.13 seconds, earning her the NHSFR championship title with a combined time of 22.21 seconds. 

Closely following her was Jessi Everett of Tarzan, Texas, placing fifth in the final round with a time of 7.54 seconds. Everett placed second overall with a total time of 22.33 seconds.

Rounding out the top three was Quincy Montoya from Hesperus, Colo., placing third in the final round with a time of 7.46 seconds and ending the week with a combined time of 22.49 seconds to place her third overall.

Pole bending

This year’s pole bending event was packed full of talent with 184 ridings to contend for the national title. 

Wright native Caitlin Moore took the first-place win in the first round with a run of 19.33 seconds and another first-place win in the second round with a time of 19.3 seconds.

Lesmeister, who took the All-Around Rookie Cowgirl title, placed seventh in the pole bending event with a total time of 61.32 seconds. 

The pole bending NHSFR champion was Townsend, Mont. cowgirl Ella Begger, who finished the week with a combined time of 59.61 seconds, and Kayla Thurgood of Hooper, Utah took second place with a total time of 59.98 seconds.

Kaden Burger of Pauls Valley, Okla. took third place with a combined time of 60.24 seconds.

Reined cow horse

Pueblo, Colo. native Landri Lisac took home the national championship in the reined cow horse competition, with a combined score of 880 points, followed by Jasper Patrick of Reading, Pa., who finished in second place with a total score of 877. 

In a tight race for third, Will Jones, a student from Allerton, Iowa, beat out Sterlin Mitchell of Lamy, N.M. and took the third-place win with a score of 874.5 points.

Saddle bronc riding

A total score of 222.5 points earned Shane Scott of Prineville, Ore. the national saddle bronc riding championship title. Eastan West of New Underwood, S.D. took third place in the first round and finished the week in second place with an overall score of 221. 

Decatur, Texas rider Jase Stout finished in first place in the final round with a score of 77 points, ending the week with a total score of 220 to claim third place. 

Steer wrestling

In the first round of steer wrestling, Peter Haas of Neola, Utah took first place with a 3.71-second run, and with a 4.32-second run in the second round, he landed in third place. Closing the final round with a run of 4.72 seconds and another third-place finish, Haas took the national championship title with a total time of 12.75 seconds.

Sam Gallagher of Brighton, Colo. took a first-place win in the final round with a time of 4.01 seconds and ended the NHSFR in second place with a combined time of 13.71 seconds. 

The third place winner in the steer wrestling event was Coy Johnson of Stapleton, Neb. with a combined time of 15.52 seconds.

Team roping

Team ropers from Arizona took home the national championship – Rawley Ben Jr. from Peridot and Porter Bryant from Chandler – with a combined time of 22.97 seconds to secure the win.

Following in second place, with a combined time of 23.84 seconds, was Nevada Team Ropers Jace and Garrett Jepson from Las Vegas. 

To finish the NHSFR team roping event, a team from Utah, made up of McCrae Fillmore of Fremont and Ram Hughes of Alamo, took third place with a combined time of 27.44 seconds.

Tie-down roping

Clovis, N.M. student Kyan Wilhite took first place in the final round with a time of 8.33 seconds to secure the national championship with a total time of 27.24 seconds. Chasing Wilhite was Paden Evans from Princeton, Mo., who ended the finals with a total time of 29.2 seconds, and in third place, with a combined time of 30.41 seconds, was Jayden Broussard from Broussard, La.

Melissa Anderson is the editor of the Wyoming Livestock Roundup. Send comments on this article to roundup@wylr.net.