Mount Pleasant Junior High Students Qualify for State Rodeo

Pictured: Lucas Dunn ropes a calf

Three Mount Pleasant Junior High School students and members of the Mount Pleasant Rodeo Team have qualified for the Texas Junior High State Finals in June. To qualify, team members competed in Regional Rodeos and had to consistently be in the top 10 in their events over the course of 12 rodeos.

Pictured: Case Rodgers takes down a steer

Eighth-grader Lucas Dunn qualified for the state finals in four events including chute dogging, ribbon roping, tie-down roping, and team roping. Eighth-grader Case Rodgers qualified in chute dogging. And seventh-grader Karli Lowry and her horse, Joker, qualified in barrel racing.

Chute dogging is an event designed as a steppingstone to steer wrestling. The competitor, starting in a chute with a steer, must wrestle the steer to the ground within 60 seconds after the chute is opened. Ribbon roping is a timed event where one rider on horseback ropes a steer, then dismounts to help a runner on foot grab a ribbon from a calf’s tail. In tie-down roping, also known as calf roping, a competitor ropes a calf, dismounts, and ties the calf’s legs together, with the fastest time winning. Team roping involves two competitors, a header and a heeler, who work together to rope a steer, with the header roping the steer’s head and the heeler roping its hind legs, aiming for the fastest time. Barrel racing is an event where a horse and rider race around three barrels in a cloverleaf pattern in a test of speed, skill, and coordination.

Pictured: Karli Lowry barrel racing with Joke

The Texas Junior High Rodeo Association season runs annually from August through March and ends in May at the Texas State Final Junior High Rodeo where students compete for numerous awards and scholarships, as well as the chance to compete at the National Junior High School Finals Rodeo held each June.