By Julie Johansen
The final weekend of the Dixie 6 rodeo series added points for several Carbon and Emery athletes. The rodeos, held in Hurricane at the Washington County Legacy Arena, were again filled with many competitors and huge crowds. The culmination of the event was the annual highly-anticipated Cowboy Prom on Saturday night.
On Friday at the Dixie #5 rodeo, contestants from the Carbon team placing in the top ten were Maddison Nielson, earning ninth place in the breakaway roping with a time of 7.78 seconds, and Ean Ellis, taking third in tie down roping with a time of 10.9 seconds. Kashley Rhodes placed eighth in the light rifle shoot and Shalako Gunter earned eighth in the trap shoot.
Four Emery team members also received points on Friday. Megan Zunich was eighth in the barrels and fifth in breakaway with a time of 4.3 seconds. Kinlie Jensen tied the goat in 8.2 seconds for fourth place. In the shooting sports, Ryter Ekker took seventh and Jalynn Fox was ninth in the light rifle.
The final Dixie #6 rodeo was on Saturday. Even more cowboys and cowgirls from Carbon and Emery placed in the top ten on Saturday. Carbon’s Kayson Peterson and Emery’s Will Jeffs joined in the team roping and placed ninth with a time of 8.6 seconds. Ellis placed again in tie down with a time of 14.98, good for 10th place. Maddison Nielson was fifth in the poles. In the shooting sports, Rhodes was 10th in the rifle and Gunter tied for fourth in the trap shoot.
Emery’s Stace Gilbert and Race Gilbert took second in team roping with a time of 6.78 seconds, Megan Zunich was 12th in barrels and despite not gaining any points, she qualified for state. Graycee Mills was 10th in the breakaway with a 3.2-second run, while Shaynee Fox was 10th in the goat tying with a time of 9.02 seconds. Jalynn Fox placed third, Braylea Conover earned fourth and Ekker took ninth in the light rifle shoot. Monty Christiansen was third in the reining cow competition.
This is the last rodeo for the high school teams until next spring when the Ice Breaker will put contestants on the road trail again to Ogden in March.