Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Locals compete at national prep rodeo

Clint King off to fast start in steer wrestling

T.S. Last News-Bulletin Sports Editor; tslast@news-bulletin.com

Springfield, Ill. So far everything is going as planned for Clint King at the National High School Finals Rodeo being held this week in Springfield, Ill.

King, a member of Valencia County's Young Guns Rodeo Club, got off to a great start by placing first in steer wrestling during the Monday morning performance. King's time of 4.62 seconds was best among the 17 steer wrestlers who registered times.

"My goal is to get all my steers thrown smooth. My plan is to not be over seven seconds," King said prior to making the trip.

A 2007 graduate of Albuquerque's Valley High School, King is making his first trip to the national rodeo. He qualified by placing third in steer wrestling in state rodeo competition.

King will make his second run on Friday evening. If his is among the 20 best combined times over two performances, he'll advance to the weekend's championship round.

Steer wrestling has come natural to King, who has only been at it for about a year-and-a-half and was the average winner at his first competition.

Asked what he likes best about bulldogging, King said, "You get to go out there and show how tough you are."

King said it takes a certain kind of person to excel at the sport.

"You've got to have the determination. You've got to want to be a steer wrestler," he said.

King's good showing may motivate another Young Gun, Seth Hall, who was state champion in both steer wrestling and calf roping.

Hall, who was a middle school national champ in steer wrestling and team roping, has both his bulldogging performances on Wednesday — one in the morning and one in the evening.

Hall is also focused on calf roping, which is referred to as tie-down roping at the national rodeo. Last year, he led the event headed into the finals but missed his calf on his last run and dropped all the way to 12th.

Hall said he was determined to make up for last year's mistake in a big way.

"My goal is to make the short go and win the calf roping, place real well in the bulldogging and maybe walk out of there with the all-around award," he said.

Hall registered a time of 12.198 on his first try in tie-down roping. That was good enough for eighth among 21 ropers in Monday night's performance.

Also on Monday, Shiann Irwin of Bosque Farms made her first run in barrel racing. She placed 17th in her performance with a time of 17.511.

Irwin expects to do best in pole bending, an event in which she's a two-time state champion. Her first go in that event was Tuesday evening after News-Bulletin press time.

Irwin won the short-go in pole bending last year, vaulting her from 20th to 12th place overall. Before leaving for the trip she said she had high expectations for nationals this year.

"I have a big goal. I want to be a national champion in pole bending and in the top three in all-around cowgirl, and I want my horse to be horse of the year," said Irwin, whose horse, Chance, earned top honors in New Mexico this season.

The national rodeo got under way Sunday, and Veguita's Cathy Long turned in her first time in barrel racing. Her time of 18.105 seconds was good enough for 20th in her performance round.

Also representing New Mexico is Davree Higdon of Los Chavez, who participated in the queen's contest on Tuesday.

The 17-year-old senior-to-be at Belen High School won the state crown in June after a competition that included modeling, a written test, a personal interview with judges, a speech and horsemanship competition.

"The hardest part for me was the speech, because I'm not used to speaking in front of people," said Higdon, whose best event is horsemanship.

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