State Finals begin today for Fallon Rodeo's Junior High and High School teams, hosting the event in town for the third time in five years with more than 22 competing clubs from across the state.
The Fallon junior high and high school Rodeo teams welcome teams from across the state at the Nevada State High School Rodeo Finals that runs through Monday.
Check-in for the competition officially began on Thursday while the junior high championships started Thursday and end today with the Top 15 finals at 1 p.m, followed by the high school performances beginning Saturday and ending Monday. Performances on Saturday and Sunday are at 9 a.m. and 7 p.m., and the Top 15 is at 1 p.m. on Monday..
The set up has been an effort, said Fallon High School Rodeo Director Monyca Jensen, who was checking in about 24 teams teams between both competitions. She said everybody’s here and ready to compete.
“I think our Fallon clubs are going to represent us very well,” Jensen said when asked how Fallon might stack up. “We have some pretty outstanding athletes in both of our clubs competing.”
The competition marks the third time in the last five years Fallon has hosted the finals at the fairgrounds. The Top 15 for cutting is Saturday at 1 p.m.
Despite threats from Boulder City riding in from the south, Fallon’s team has the confidence of its current stat leaders such as sophomore Leighton Beyer, who is ninth in overall points with 53.50 and competes in goat tying, barrel racing, breakaway and team roping.
Beyer, a Churchill County High School student, isn’t alone at the top, while senior Blane Jensen from Oasis Academy leads in team roping.
Jensen, along with seniors Jesse Tews. Cord Hendrix and Sam Goings make up a list of former champions and graduating seniors who will see their last state competition this weekend with the high school team.
Monyca Jensen agreed when asked if she felt a balance between young talent and experience this year though she acknowledge the team would be losing some of its best competitors in the form of its seniors.
“It’s going to be tough to see them go. but it will be great and they’ll go on to do great things in their future,” Jensen said. “They made a huge impact on the younger generation coming up and they represented their age group and their schools very well.