Wrangler Division

Australian Junior High School Rodeo Team Heads home after a Successful week in Gallup New Mexico On Sunday the 1st of July 11 eager 10-15 year old students sat in the grandstand awaiting the chance to hopefully become the next Wrangler >Division Junior High School Rodeo Association champion. The other 850 >competitors that made up the finals qualifiers travelled from 40 USA states >and 4 Canadian provinces. The competitors that made up the Australian Team >were: > > > >Justin Dorrington – Bull ride, Team roping, chute dogging > >Justin Locock – Team roping, rope and tie, chute dogging, Ribbon Roping > >Rodney-Ray Mancell – Bull ride, Rope and Tie, Team roping, Ribbon Roping, >Chute Dogging > >Troy Burtenshaw – Bull ride > >Clay Bush – Rope and Tie, Team Roping, Ribbon Roping, chute dogging > >Mikayla Weier – Pole bending > >Shanae Payne – Pole bending, Barrel Racing, Ribbon Roping > >Megan Pohlman - Pole bending, Barrel Racing, Ribbon Roping > >Calla Matthews - Pole bending, Barrel Racing, Ribbon Roping > >Emmalene Deaves – Pole Bending > >Riley Menzy – Barrel Racing, Breakaway Roping > > > >The finals started at 1.00pm with a meeting in the grandstands of Red rock >State Park in Gallup, New Mexico. During this meeting the Board of the >association stated exactly what is expected of each and every competitor >during the course of the finals. After this meeting was over the students >had time for a final night of rest before the finals commenced the next >morning. > > > >We had members of the Australian team drawn up to compete in each of the 10 >performances throughout the week. All of the competitors are drawn up to >compete in two rounds during the finals. It is worked out so that each >competitor has the chance to compete in one morning performance and one >night performance to give each competitor an equal opportunity. The draws >are also reversed for the second go-round. These draws are posted one week >prior to the finals so all of the competitors know when they are drawn up. > > > >On Monday the 2nd of July at 9:00am sharp, the Performance kicked off with >the Grand entry and renditions of the American, Canadian and Australian >National Anthems. After this, the competition began with 3 arenas side by >side in operation. Monday night at 7:00pm sharp was the time set for the >second performance, which began the same as the morning performance had >started. The performances carried right through until it wound up with the >final performance on Friday the 6th of July at 7:00pm. The Short Go round >wrapped up the finals on Saturday the 7th of July. > > > >At the completion of the first go-round on Wednesday morning, we were in >fine shape in the rope and tie event. Justin Locock had won the first >go-round of the rope and tie with a personal best time of 10.329. Our >other Australian Tie down roping competitor Clay Bush ended up 4th in the >first go-round with a time of 11.23. Rodney-Ray Mancell came in 23rd palce >with a time of 17.589. The girls had lots of bad luck in their respective >events with slick times on the board in both the Barrel race and pole >bending however a couple of knocked poles and drums put them out of the >average. Our ribbon ropers did very well especially >concidering this was our first year competiting in this event. Clay Bush >and Shanae Payne ended up 25th in the round with a time of 11.161. Justin >Locock and Calla Matthews were knocking on their heels with a time of >11.464, which placed them 27th in the round. > > > >At the completion of the second go-round on Friday night, some of the >Australian team members had landed themselves a position in the Short >go-round on Saturday. Clay Bush had roped and tied his calf in a time of >12.772 which placed him 4th in the round and leading the average going into >the final round. Justin Locock recorded an 18.861 which placed him 31st in >the round and 9th in the average. Our ribbon ropers were once again in fine >form with Calla Matthews and Justin Locock recording a time of 15.023 >placing them 43rd in the round and 18th in the average. Shanae Payne and >Clay bush recorded a smashing time of 8.473 but a broken barrier >pushed their time back to an 18.473 which pushed them out of the top 20 >qualifiers to compete in the short go-round. > > > > The short go-round commenced on Saturday the 7th of July at >lunch time. The Rope and tie was the nail biter event with the Australian >team vying for a chance to become the first Australian team to ever have a >competitor win the American Title. Justin Locock ran first out of the two >Australian Competitors but unfortunately missed his calf. When Clay Bush >backed up into the box he knew that he had the chance to win the event and >take home the championship saddle and buckle. He was going into the final >leading the average by 0.920 of a second over Bryson Sechrisht from Apache, >Oklahoma. Clay >pushed all of the pressure aside and recorded a time of 11.196 which placed >him 3rd in the round but his consistency had paid off. Clay had won the >average over three head with a total time of 35.198. Clay had competed >against and beaten the top competitors from all over America, Canada and >Australia. > > > > It was a credit to all of the competitors who competed at >the Wrangler Division Junior High School Rodeo Finals as they all competed >to the best of their ability and did our country proud. I am sure that once >the team comes home, we will see these competitors riding tougher than ever >after seeing the calibre of competition they have competed against and have >proved they can match them. > > If you would like to compete in the Nation Student Rodeo >Association Wrangler Division or High School Division and contend for the >chance to compete in the USA please call Toni Locock on 0409 054 753 >(Wrangler Division) or Bob Armitage on 0411745001 (High School Division).