The Sundre Rodeo Grounds were recently abuzz with junior as well as high school rodeo action.
On Friday, Sept. 16, the Mountain View High School Rodeo Club hosted a Division 2 Junior High School rodeo. Sixty-nine participants from all around Central Alberta competed in a variety of categories such as pole bending, barrel racing, tie-down roping, break away roping, chute dogging, goat tying, team roping, bareback steer riding, saddle bronc and steer riding, as well as junior bull riding.
This is an annual event hosted each fall by the Mountain View High School Rodeo Club, which consists of Codi, Shanay and Rees Wilson as well as Saige Jackson.
Local junior high rodeo competitors did very well, with Rees Wilson placing third in the chute dogging as well as 17th in goat tying. Reagan Tebb came first in barrels, second in poles, and eighth in goat tying. Additionally, Cora Croteau finished ninth in barrel racing.
The High School Division 2 rodeos took place over the following two days on Sept. 17-18. There were 115 competitors on both days in barrel racing, pole bending, tie down roping, break away roping, goat tying, saddle bronc riding, bareback riding, steer wrestling, team roping and bull riding.
Local contestants again fared well. Saige Jackson would have finished 10th out of 52 pole bender competitors on Sept. 17, but she hit a pole, putting her out of the running. Shanay Wilson placed ninth in the break away roping, and Codi Wilson — this year's Alberta High School Rodeo Queen — came 20th in goat tying. All three young women did well in their events on Sept. 18 as well while juggling other rodeo duties such as chasing out stock and opening chute gates.
The Wilson and Jackson families put on the rodeo with a lot of help from many local volunteers like Guy Kelley, as well as junior high rodeo parent volunteers. The club solicits local sponsorship to put on this event, without which it would not be possible.
