Matti DeLong and Brynn Barto of the Humboldt County Rodeo Club were in Des Moines, Iowa, last week for the National Junior High School Finals Rodeo at the Iowa State Fairgrounds.
More than 1,00 contestants from around the United States took part in the week-long event.
Delong and partner Jace Harry of Nixon were the Nevada state champions in ribbon roping.
At the national finals, the duo was 10th in their go-around in a time of 13.11 seconds and 49th in the first performance. DeLong and Harry improved to a time of 9.57 in the second go-around and were 24th in the second performance.
They were 21st overall in a time of 22.68 seconds, out of 126 teams.
DeLong also took part in pole bending. She had a time of 26.96 in her first go-around, after knocking down a pole.
She bounced back to stop the clock at 21.08 in the second go-around and she was 23rd in the second performance. In the overall standings, DeLong was 68th with an average time of 48.04.
There were 164 girls that competed in the pole bending competition.
Barto competed in barrel racing and was 24th in her first go-around with a time of 21.266, after knocking down a barrel. She came back in style, winning her next go-around at 15.511 to finish 11th in the second performance.
She was 98th in the average at 36.777. There were 174 girls in the barrel racing event.
North Carolina’s Colt Bass was the all-around cowboys and Florida’s Ladd Leeper was the reserve all-around cowboy. Sam Saunders from Homedale, Idaho, was named the rookie all-around cowboy.
Cassidy Evans of Yuma, Colo., was crowned as the all-around cowgirl and North Dakota’s Carlee Miller was the reserve all-around cowgirl. Merrick Moyer of Woodward, Okla., was named the all-around rookie cowgirl.
Texas won the girls team championship with 4,585 points, followed by Oklahoma (3.910), North Dakota (3,140), Kansas (2,655) and Louisiana (2,560).
Nevada was 25th in the girls team standings.
Texas made it a sweep of the team standing, easily winning the boys crown with 7,211 points. Oklahoma was second at 4,820 and Kansas was third at 4,530.
Nevada placed eighth in the boys standings with 3,635 points.
