An exciting week of rodeo activities for nearly 200 cowboys and cowgirls wrapped up Saturday at Pocatello's Bannock County Fairgrounds.
There, the 2006 State High School Rodeo finals came to a memorable end.
Madison's Wyatt Smith and Bailey Guthrie of Firth won the all-around cowboy and cowgirl titles, while Dirk Tavenner of Rigby and Makale Miller of South Fremont were the year's top rookies.
Wood River's Kade Smith, 16, captured his second consecutive boys' cutting championship and Austin Keys of Wood River finished third in cutting. Keys ended up third in the boys' rookie standings.
The Idaho honors were important. So was the fact that the top four finishers in each of the 12 events in Pocatello qualified for the 58th annual National High School Rodeo Finals July 24-30 at Springfield, Ill.
Smith, who had the top three rides in each of the cutting go-rounds at Pocatello June 19, will return to nationals. Keys had the second-best ride behind Smith in the third go of the cutting finals. And Keys is headed to Springfield as well.
Fairfield's Kortnee Hurless also qualified for nationals by placing fourth in polebending.
Amanda Hill of Carey nearly made it to nationals in breakaway roping, but her excellent 3.95-second ride in the third go-round fell just short of fourth-place District 2 cowgirl Regan Lawson. Hill ended up placing fifth in the roping class.
Wood River's Taylor Stoecklein finished fifth in boys' cutting, just missing a ticket to Springfield.
Rob Webb of Wendell, another Fifth District cowboy from north of the Snake River, won the state calf roping championship and shared the team roping title with Jake Ruby of Wendell. Both are headed for Illinois.
For more information on the nationals visit nhsra.org.
The following are final top results and Fifth District competitors from last week's Idaho High School Rodeo
Association state finals:
Final state all-around girls: 1—Bailey Guthrie (Firth) 170.5. Reserve—Makale Miller (South Fremont) 150.5. 5—Kortnee Hurless (Fairfield) 75.5. 12—Amanda Hill (Carey) 41.5.
Rookie girls: 1—Makale Miller 150.5. 2—Kallie Duffin (Shelley) 31.
Final state all-around boys: 1—Wyatt Smith (Madison) 244.5. Reserve—Monty Johnson (District 1) 99.5. 3—Rob Webb (Wendell) 84.5.
Rookie boys: 1—Dirk Tavenner (Rigby) 59.5. 2—Cody Wadsworth (District 6) 54. 3—Austin Keys (WR) 45.
State queen: 1—Ashley Fuchs (South Fremont).
Boys' cutting: 1—Kade Smith (WR) 55 points with top-rated rides of 148, 147 and 146 in the three go-rounds. 3—Austin Keys (WR) 45 points with rides of 143, 144 and 144, the last go being the second-best ride. 5—Taylor Stoecklein (WR) 34 points with rides of 138, 142 and 142 (17 entrants), fourth-best in the second go.
Girls' cutting: 1—Shae Prescott (District 6) 51 points. 17—Brittany Hennefer (Carey) 5.333 (23 entrants).
Pole bending: 1—Stacy Shiner (District 1) 20.461, 20.213 and 20.424 seconds for 54 points. 4—Kortnee Hurless 20.912, 21.230 and 20.772 seconds for 35.5 points. 13—Amanda Hill 12 points (49 entrants).
Breakaway roping: 1—Bailey Guthrie (Firth) 2.59, 3.48 and 4.29 seconds for 42.5 points. 5—Amanda Hill 4.32, 4.08 and 3.95 seconds for 29.5 points. 15—Kortnee Hurless 10.20, 6.42 and 4.68 seconds for 12.5 points (48 entrants).
Goat tying: 1—Makale Miller (South Fremont) 8.64, 8.23 and 8.37 seconds for 51 points. 6—Kortnee Hurless 8.82, 10.42 and 10.27 seconds for 27.5 points (49 entrants).
Barrel racing: 1—Makale Miller (South Fremont) 17.371, 17.151 and 17.161 seconds for 51 points (49 entrants).
Bareback riding: 1—Wyatt Smith (Madison) 76, 72 and 79 for 50 points (26 entrants).
Steer wrestling: 1—Wyatt Smith (Madison) 5.29, 7.64 and 5.65 seconds for 46 points (38 entrants).
Calf roping: 1—Rob Webb (Wendell) 10.51, 14.02 and 12.02 seconds for 43 points (48 entrants).
Saddle bronc: 1—Bryan Martinat (District 2) 67, 74 and 77 for 51 points (20 entrants).
Bullriding: 1—Monty Johnson (District 1) 74, 75 and 67 for 49 points (44 entrants).
Team roping: 1—Rob Webb and Jake Ruby (Wendell) 8.11, 8.55 and 14.42 seconds for 41.5 points (48 teams).
