Ryan Bozer:
Thanks for joining us here on SDPB. Looping us into the happenings from Rodeo over the past weekend, SDPB Sports and Recreation Reporter, Nate Wek. Nate, how was Rodeo? Did you have a nice couple days out there?
Nate Wek:
I did have a nice few days. It was hot, hot on Wednesday, hot on Saturday, but when you're doing an event in June, you're bound to get some heat in South Dakota. But I think overall, I think it was a really successful year and it was a lot of fun. I mean, you got to see a lot of really talented kids competing. You got to see some events that were pretty tight in the scoring, so it did kind of come down to that short go a little bit to see who was going to punch those tickets to nationals. But yeah, it was a lot of fun, Ryan.
Ryan Bozer:
Sweet. So you just mentioned nationals. How does a participant in these championships get to go participate in nationals?
Nate Wek:
Yeah. So what they end up doing is they end up taking the top four, is basically what they do. They take the top four individuals in the standings for each event. And how they calculate it is they go off of season points and then they go off of the results that happen as well once you get to the state rodeo finals. So go off of season points, then they also calculate in your first go, second go, and short go from what happens at state. And then that kind of goes into your total points. So as well as there's an average thing that they go off of as well that goes into the standings, but you kind of have a good idea. Most instances once you get to that short go round of who's kind of separating from the pack. So anybody that wins the state title in these events is going to be going to nationals, obviously they have that number one spot in the standings.
But yeah, they take the top four, so quite a few kids got to go. We did keep track of all of the qualifiers as well. We do have a full list of every single person that qualified at sdpb.org/rodeo. You can just go there and in the scroll you'll see a thing that says 2024 National High School Rodeo Qualifiers. So we've got a list of all of them if you want to see them. Some of the big ones, Ryan, that kind of stood out and there's about four or five categories that I always keep an eye on a little bit just because I think it's kind of fun, but we always keep track of who the Queen is. There's always the All-Around Cowboy, All-Around Cowgirl. And then it's also kind of fun too to look at who takes home the Rookie Cowgirl and Rookie Cowboy honors as well, because that kind of gives you an idea of who some of the younger up and coming individuals are.
So as far as the Queen, it was Tava Sexton who was honored with the Queen Award for 2024. So for the next year she'll be representing the state of South Dakota, kind of going around raising awareness for rodeo, kind of being the face of high school rodeo for the 2024 year. So Tava Sexton, another thing that makes her kind of fun as well is she actually qualified for nationals in girls cutting. So she did that on Wednesday here this past week when the rodeo finals out in Fort Pier got started. So Tava Sexton going to nationals for girls cutting, which is pretty cool. Ryen Sheppick, she was another one that really stood out to me. She ended up winning the All-Around Cowgirl Award. Ryen Sheppick won Rained Cow Horse, girls cutting, and then as we were interviewing her for those two, she's like, "Oh, by the way, I found out I just won breakaway roping as well". So she's actually a three time state champion going to nationals for multiple events, so it'll be fun to see what she does.
Gabe Glines ended up being the All-Around Cowboy, won the state title in Steer Wrestling. He was a lot of fun to watch as well. One name, too, that I wanted to point at was the Rookie Cowgirl winner, and that was Arina Haugen out of Sturgis. And the reason that I wanted to point to her is because her older sister, Landry Haugen, was a multiple state champion winner, had won All-Around Cowgirl honors, I believe, last year as a senior. Went to Nationals a lot and she mentioned to us last year, "My younger sister is really good. She's going to be coming up next year and it'll be fun to watch her at the high school level". And we got a chance to watch Arina on full display this weekend, which was a lot of fun. With pole bending and in barrels, we got to see her do some good things going to nationals in both those events. So yeah, when we heard a year ago from Landry Haugen, "Hey, my sister's really good". The hype was worth it on that one because Arina was a lot of fun to watch as a freshman.
Ryan Bozer:
Nice. Sounding a little bit like some sister rivalry there, right? Of "Oh, my sister did well, I can do better".
Nate Wek:
Right, exactly. And the Haugens are big time, big rodeo fame. I believe mom and dad were both involved, are still heavily involved in rodeo and stuff like that too. Did some professional rodeo. So the Haugen name out in Sturgis when you think of Rodeo has a lot of success.
Ryan Bozer:
It sounds like a lot of winners, a lot of people winning in a couple different categories or at least getting to go compete in a couple different categories. It sounds like Tava's going to have her hands full between representing Rodeo and then also representing Rodeo, right? Both in state and out of state in nationals.
Nate Wek:
Right, yep. And nationals are coming up here next month. I believe it's July 14th through the 20th. That'll be a lot of fun, that's out in Wyoming. And it's always fun to just keep tabs on all the local kids. You get your list together and you start paying attention and seeing what they can do at that national level. And we've had it happen quite a few times where a kid from South Dakota wins a national, one of those national saddles as well. So it's really fun too, Ryan, and I think this is worth mentioning, but early on in rodeo they lay all of the state champion saddles out under the grandstand. So you get an opportunity to go look at all of these saddles and know that every one of these is going to be going home with a kid. So it's fun to see all those saddles there kind of knowing what they represent.
And then on Saturday night, the saddles start getting moved out and kids start picking up their buckles and they get their... And then on, I believe Sunday morning is when they actually have the final picture where they recognize all the state champions for the final time and then they bring those saddles home with them. So it's pretty cool. And then you see kids too, even at the state competition that have their saddles from maybe last year or two years ago when they maybe won an event. So it's really cool just to see what those saddles are, what they represent, and knowing that they represent something much bigger than just a spot that a cowboy or cowgirl sits on.
Ryan Bozer:
You've had a number of busy weeks, if I'm counting right, between all the state championships, rodeo now. What else you got that you're keeping your eyes on, Nate?
Nate Wek:
Well, one of the big things too with Rodeo is there's a lot of little side stories. So what I'd like to do with you, Ryan, and if it's okay with all the listeners as well, just the next few weeks, we'll just dive into some of these side stories that we were able to capture with Rodeo. There's a kid that was adopted from Africa by a family and really got into Rodeo, he was competing at the state finals this year. It was the 75th State Rodeo finals in South Dakota this year as well. So there was a lot of different storylines that we were following this year while the event was taking place that extends outside of the results and stuff like that. So I think the next few weeks it'd be fun to talk a little bit more in depth on some of those and help share some of these more human interest stories with the state. Because these are the stories that I think people are really going to be able to connect with and it'll really help give off some of the personality with some of the kids that we were able to watch this last week.
Ryan Bozer:
Yeah, absolutely. I think it'd be great to learn more about some of the competitors and some of the... Just help folks understand more of what Rodeo is, especially if they're like me and just don't know much about it. Right. So no, that sounds lovely. I look forward to hearing more about those. Well, I'll let you enjoy the rest of your day. It sounds like you're not having to go anywhere immediately this weekend, which might be a first in several weekends for you, my friend.
Nate Wek:
Right. I don't know what I'm going to do. I'm going to be able to actually make plans this weekend to do something a little bit different, maybe get the golf clubs dusted off. We'll see.
Ryan Bozer:
There you go. Yeah.
Nate Wek:
But I do want to just note here real quick, Ryan, that every single session that we did with Rodeo, so Wednesday night, both sessions on Thursday, both sessions on Friday, and also the short go round on Saturday, all of those are archived online at sdpb.org/rodeo. So if you want to go back and watch any of those events, any of those sessions from the State Rodeo Finals, just go to sdpb.org/rodeo and you can relive the experience.
