Dolores High School junior Bri Suckla has qualified for the National High School Finals Rodeo in Gillette, Wyoming, for the third year in a row.
Suckla will compete in breakaway roping at the competition from July 16-22. It’s the 69th annual National High School Finals Rodeo.
“It’s a great community to be a part of,” Suckla said of the rodeo community.
Suckla travels to Wyoming after winning a state championship in breakaway roping in New Mexico, where she competes in high school rodeo. She won the championship in Gallup, New Mexico, during the state finals competition from May 24-29, finishing with a total 116.5 points.
Suckla said she has been riding horses since she was old enough to sit up. Her mother, Krista Suckla, also participated in rodeo events, so it was easy for Bri to get started, she said.
Bri Suckla said she is excited to compete in Wyoming again, on her horse Stuart Little. She enjoys going to national rodeo events and meeting different people from all around the country, and as far away as Australia, she said.
“It’s a lot of love from the community,” Bri Suckla said.
To prepare for competition in Wyoming, Bri will be practicing roping for four or five hours every day with Stuart Little, a gray horse that she trained on breakaway roping herself.
Though Bri Suckla said there aren’t a lot of high-schoolers who compete in rodeo in the area, she encouraged anyone interested to get involved. She was an outsider when she first started competing in New Mexico, but the community accepted her quickly, she said.
“Meet some people and make connections,” Bri Suckla said. “The rodeo community is very friendly.”
jacobk@the-journal.com
Local boy heads to junior high finals in Tennessee
Isaiah Ethington, a Montezuma County homeschool student who recently completed the seventh grade, will compete in the tie-down competition in the National Junior High Finals Rodeo in Lebanon, Tennessee, on June 18-24. He’s on the Arizona team.
Featuring about 1,000 contestants from 43 states, Canada and Australia, the National Junior High Finals Rodeo is the world’s largest junior high rodeo. The finals offers more than $80,000 in prizes and $200,000 in college scholarships. To become a national champion, contestants must first finish in the Top 20 in the rodeo’s first two rounds, then finish as the top contestant in the final round based on the combined score in three rounds of competition.
The Journal
