TORRINGTON – Colt Brown (Fort Laramie), Hadley Thompson (Yoder), Turek Thompson (Yoder) and Kaycee Kosmicki (Yoder) are heading to the National Junior High Finals Rodeo in Perry, Georgia later this month.
To qualify for nationals, a competitor must finish in the top four in their respective events after the completion of the state finals.
The four locals competed against approximately 175 other aspiring rodeo contestants for spots on Team Wyoming. They will join 41 others to represent the state in Georgia on June 19-25.
Brown and Turek Thompson will compete in chute dogging, while Hadley Thompson qualified in breakaway roping, goat tying, barrel racing and pole bending. Kosmicki will compete in breakaway roping and ribbon roping with partner Trigg Thompson of Cheyenne.
The NJHFR is the world’s largest junior high rodeo featuring roughly 1,200 contestants from 43 U.S. States, five Canadian Provinces, Australia, Mexico and New Zealand. NJHFR contestants will compete for more than $200,000 in college scholarships and the chance to be named a NJHFR World Champion.
The NJHFR consists of two go-rounds with the top with the top 20 moving on to Saturday’s championship round. The finals will be televised nationally as part of the Cinch High School Rodeo Tour telecast on RFD-TV. Performance times are at 7 p.m. on June 19 and 9 a.m. and 7 p.m. each day thereafter.
