ROCK SPRINGS – Going into the last week’s National High School Finals Rodeo in Rock Springs, the Lemmon twins – Bryan and Jared – knew they were going to have a strong week with the hopes of reaching Saturday night’s championship short-go in the team roping event.
That’s exactly what they did.
“It really wasn’t a surprise, but it was a bitter-sweet feeling. Going up, we knew we were going to be good and give it a good shot,” Bryan, who heels said. “Getting a top six was bitter-sweet.”
The Torrington High School seniors have an advantage over many their roping competitors.
“Not everyone has the luxury to come home and to go rope every day with their partner instead of driving a couple hours to go rope,” Bryan said.
This year was the first year the two had roped together as Jared had a different partner a year ago, and they made the most of daily practice.
“I know where to put the steer, and he knows where it’s going to be,” Jared, who heads the steer said.
They finished sixth-place finish in the in the average for the week with a total time of 29.04 seconds in team roping out of 88 teams who recorded a time.
“Our goal is to win obviously,” Jared said. “It was higher than we thought. We just wanted three smooth runs to see where we would end up.”
In Saturday’s final, they tripped the stopwatch with a run of 12.59 seconds, placing eighth out of the final 20 team ropers.
It capped off a special week for them.
“It’s pretty cool,” Jared said. “It has that nationals feeling with 7,000 people watching. It’s a cool atmosphere. It’s one in a million.”
The duo was two of three area competitors to reach the championship round of the NHSFR.
Cole Lane was the third Goshen County representative at the Sweetwater Events Complex.
Lane squeaked into the final round of tie-down roping, sitting in 20th place with a time of 24.07 seconds after two rounds.
In the championship round, he didn’t record a time.
The NHSFR has an annual membership of approximately 12,500 students from 42 states, five Canadian provinces and Australia. The Association sanctions over 1,800 rodeos each year.
And for the twins, they have already set a goal for themselves to make a return trip to nationals in 2019 and top this year’s performance.
“Maybe even win it next year,” Bryan concluded.
Full week results:
First round
Tie-down roping: 5. Cole Lane – 9.26 seconds
Team roping: 19. Bryan and Jared Lemmon – 7.91 seconds
Second round
Tie-down roping: 55. Cole Lane – 14.81 seconds
Team roping: 21. Bryan and Jared Lemmon – 8.54 seconds
Championship short-go
Tie-down roping: 20. Cole Lane – no time
Team roping: 8. Bryan and Jared Lemmon – 12.59 seconds
Week-long average
Tie-down roping: 20. Cole Lane – 24.07 seconds
Team roping: 6. Bryan and Jared Lemmon – 29.04 seconds
