By Julie Johansen
Competition for Utah State High School Rodeo began on Monday, June 7 in Heber City. Following a long week of competition, Zeek Weber, Kayson Jensen and Byron Christiansen won the honor of representing Utah at the national finals in Lincoln, Nebraska during the week of July 20.
Weber will be competing in the reining cow horse while Jensen will compete in barebacks. Christiansen will participate in both barebacks and saddle bronc riding.
Going into finals week, there were 13 of 17 members from the Emery rodeo team qualified to compete at state. After two rounds of competition, there were nine members who scored high enough to compete in the final short go round of competition.
In addition to Jensen, Weber and Christiansen, Cole Magnuson competed in bull riding, Abbie McElprang in breakaway roping, Monty Christiansen in reining cow, and Ryter Ekker and Ruger Payne in the shooting sports. Byron Christiansen also competed in the final round in bulls and reining cow.
