SPRINGDALE -- Emma Grace Easley of Lowell and Kenzie Castor of Springdale are headed out west accompanied by Freckles, Katie and Bear.
Those are the horses the friends will be riding when they participate in the National High School Finals Rodeo in Gillette, Wyo. The competition will be held July 17-23 and includes 1,650 qualifiers from 43 states, five Canadian provinces, and Australia.
Easley will compete in barrel racing and pole bending, while Castor will compete in breakaway roping. Two other girls from Northwest Arkansas -- Kaci Starkey of Gentry and Shelbi Rice of Natural Dam -- also will make the long trip to compete in the rodeo. Starkey will compete in breakaway roping while Rice, who was named Arkansas High School Rodeo queen at the state finals in Texarkana, will participate in barrel racing.
The National High School Finals Rodeo is the culmination of 12 rodeos that included six in the fall and six in the spring. Springdale hosted one rodeo on the Arkansas circuit, which also included stops in Crossett, Hampton, Monticello, Searcy and Memphis for an Arkansas vs. Tennessee Challenge.
The four girls from Northwest Arkansas advanced to the national stage after placing in the top four of their events when scores were averaged. Easley finished second in barrel racing and third in pole bending, where the horses and their riders weave in and out of six poles placed 21 feet apart. Starkey placed first in breakaway roping, Castor was fourth in breakaway roping and Rice was fourth in barrel racing.
"We've been doing this all year long, since September," said Castor, who will be a senior at Springdale Har-Ber. "It's a lot of hard work and you have to ride your horse and practice every single day to keep them healthy and in condition. It's like a coach working with his athletes."
Besides the prestige of participating in a national event, the girls will be competing for prize money and college scholarship money in Wyoming.
The National High School Finals Rodeo consists of two rodeos, and the top finishers in combined scores or times will be brought back for a third round of competition. Portions of the event will be broadcast on RFD-TV beginning at 7 p.m. July 17.
The Easley and Castor families will leave Northwest Arkansas at the same time and follow each other on what they hope will be an exciting finish to 17-hour journey to Wyoming.
"We went eight straight weeks where we was at a rodeo every weekend," said Easley, who is a dance team captain at Providence Academy in Rogers. "So, to get to compete in the national finals is so, so exciting. If I could make it to the third round and finish in the top 15, that would be amazing."
Sports on 07/08/2016