Local cowboys and cowgirls head to Junior World Finals

Over the next nine days, when most student athletes are enjoying family time and riding the Big Mountain, some will be competing to be the best in the world. 

The Junior World Finals in Las Vegas hosts more than 800 of the world’s finest rodeo contestants, mostly between the ages of 10-18, to battle it out for the top spot in eight rodeo events, timed and rough stock.  

Two bull riders, a bareback rider and a barrel racer from the Flathead Valley each qualified for the finals along with three cowboys from Arlee and one from East Glacier.  

One standout is Columbia Falls' Azreal Lara, the reigning world champion bareback rider. 

This year, he was named the NRA Rookie of the Year and is the youngest rider ever to win that honor. He also placed sixth at the NRA finals. 

Azzy, as he’s called by his rodeo family, had a very good year and he is ready for the Vegas competition. 

“It was good, fun. Went all over,” Lara said. “I feel better than last year.” 

While he has not made changes to his technique, he said he’s been working on fitness and nutrition with a coach, former bareback rider Logan Corbett. 

“He's been giving me workouts to do and stuff to eat,” Lara said. “I've been doing that every day.” 

Rough stock event coach Ted Valentiner said an important part of rodeo is that it helps maintain Montana’s western heritage. He added that young people are a crucial part of carrying on the tradition. 

“To have them have an appreciation of what it took for everybody else to get where we are today in the West and have them reflect that and carry that on for future generations, I think that’s most important,” he said. 

Rodeo coach Wendy McCaffree works with kids in the timed events. She said rodeo teaches kids life skills, money management and time management among other things.  

“They’re not just responsible for themselves; they’re responsible for animals,” she said. 

Twelve-year-old barrel rider Sophia Neill has been riding since she was 2 years old and started barrel racing three years ago. She is heading to Las Vegas with two of her barrel horses, Lane and Rock. Although she admits to feeling nervous, she is looking forward to the event. 

She plans on running Lane, her 14-year-old, in Vegas. 

“He's a really big baby. Very sensitive,” she said. “I'm nervous, I don’t know how he’ll be.” 

She practices year-round and said she and her equine partners can be fast, but she is already acquainted with the highs and lows of the sport. 

“It's a lot of ups and downs,” Sophia said of barrel racing. “Lane was sore all summer and Rock, this is his first summer ever doing rodeos.”  

Korbin Baldwin, a student at Flathead High School, qualified for the finals by winning at a rodeo in Ogden, Utah in March.  

He is best known for owning Baldwin Bucking Bulls, a business that allows beginners to experience bull riding. But now, he is “laser focused” on the task at hand - winning the 16- to 18-year-old division of the Junior World Finals. 

Baldwin began steer riding in seventh grade.  

“I started getting on adult bulls my ninth-grade year,” Baldwin said. “I tried all the events but bull riding, for me, that’s the only one that clicked.” 

This will be Baldwin's second trip to the Junior World Finals. He went two years ago and finished in 14th place. He has even bigger plans for this time around. 

"This year, I'm going there hoping to win it. That's my goal this year,” he said. “I'm ready to go. I'm fired up.” 

Fellow bull rider and Flathead High student, Daxton Hudson, is competing in the 14- to 15-year-old age bracket against about 30 of the world’s best. 

Hudson has been riding bulls for three and a half years.  

“I first went to rodeo and realized I wanted to do bull riding,” he said. “It’s just the one (event) that kind of touched my heart, got me excited for it and the one that interested me.” 

He qualified first in his age division for the Junior World Finals and he improves with each ride. 

"From when I went out there and got on steers at little rodeos and came off every single time to riding bulls now - just a huge difference,” Hudson said. “I expect myself to (win) but if I don’t, I'm going to kick myself in the butt ... and get back and ride again.” 

Learning how to deal with disappointment is another part of participating in rodeo, where one’s success or failure can depend, literally, on the luck of the draw. 

“The bottom line is, everybody in this room, no matter what they ride or how fast they run, they always know in their heart they could have done better and that’s what makes them stick with this sport – always a chance to do better,” Valentiner added. 

McCaffree mentioned the expression “hero to zero,” noting that in rodeo, you could be a winner one day and a zero the next.   

“[Rodeo] keeps you humble because you never want to think you have it figured out because the minute you do, something's going to fall apart on you,” she said. 

The Junior World Finals run concurrently with the National Finals, the world series of professional rodeo. The best of the best, juniors and professionals, will be competing at the same time - juniors during the day and the pros at night.  

“The best in the world will be there - past, present and probably, future,” said Valentiner. 

To see the Junior World Finals, Dec. 5-14, tune in to Cowboy Channel+. 

    Buckles are awarded to winners in several of the rodeo events. (Julie Engler/Whitefish Pilot)
  

    Buckles are awarded to winners in several of the rodeo events. (Julie Engler/Whitefish Pilot)