HEBER CITY— Two members of the Gunnison Valley High School Rodeo Club and eight members from the Sanpete High School Rodeo Club competed in the Utah High School Activities Association State Rodeo Finals June 9-11 in Heber City and brought home scholarship money and buckles.
Trey Taylor and Emma Stewart are members of the Gunnison team and are both multiple time state qualifiers. Trey, a recent graduate, has participated in rodeo all four years of his high school career. He is a four-time state qualifier in team roping and qualified his senior year for calf roping.
He has won more than a dozen buckles, four saddles, as well as cash and prizes. Based on his performance at the State Finals, he was awarded a $2,000 scholarship from the Utah High School Rodeo Association.
Emma also just graduated from Gunnison Valley High School and has been a member of the high school rodeo team for four years. She is a three-time state qualifier and this year qualified in barrel racing and pole bending. She was awarded a $1,000 scholarship from the Utah High School Rodeo Association.
She placed first in barrel racing in the first performance at state and competed hard all weekend, placing in the top 15 out of over 60-barrel racers.
The Sanpete High School Rodeo Club consists of students from Manti and North Sanpete high schools and Wasatch Academy. State qualifiers from the team were Kysen Stephensen, tie-down roping and team roping; Jake Tree, tie-down roping and boys cow cutting; Brenna Brotherson and Lyndzee Huffaker, barrel racing; Cru Parry, team roping; Baylee Denton, girls cow cutting; and Austin Denton and Cruz Vergara, boys cow cutting.
Baylee placed fourth in the “short go,” where the top 10 cutters from the first and second rounds moved on to compete one more time to determine the overall winner. She placed seventh overall and is the only freshman in the state to compete in girls cutting.
