The biggest rodeo stars in the world have made their way through Alberta this summer, as they do every summer, competing in rodeo after rodeo. These stars are established, name brands in their own right.
But the future stars of the sport, those still in high school, descended on Rock Springs, Wyoming for the highly anticipated National High School Finals Rodeo (NHSFR)–and a local Cochrane talent was among them.
The NHSFR is the biggest high school rodeo event in the world. It attracts talent from all over the United States, Canada, Australia, Mexico, and many other countries. For a week in mid-July, more than 1,800 high school age rodeo performers competed for a space in the sports brightest stage.
Holton Harms, a recent graduate of Cochrane High School, and one of the premier rodeo talents produced in Rocky View County (RVC), was one of the 1,800 NHSFR contestants, performing in the Tie-Down Roping event.
Harms travelled to Rock Springs, a city of comparable size to Cochrane, in the southern portion of Wyoming, to compete in Tie-Down Roping on July 15 and July 17. The aggregated results for the Tie-Down Roping category have Harms in 123rd place among 150 contestants.
The NHSFR offers stiff competition to all those involved. Of the almost 2,000 high school rodeo stars competing across multiple events, only the top 20 in each category go on to make the final championship round where “world champions” are crowned.
Founded by Texas educator Claude Mullins in the late 1940s as a purely Texas state high school rodeo championship, what is now known as the NHSFR was held in Texas and featured just over 100 high school rodeo athletes competing in two events–Tie-Down Roping and Breakaway Roping.
Today, the same event that was founded so modestly has seen 10,500 student athletes from the United States, Canada, and Australia participate in recent years.
“What was once a national finals that featured 121 entries has now grown into a National High School Finals Rodeo that features over 1,500 students on a regular basis and has become known as the ‘World’s Largest Rodeo’,” the NHSFR states on its website.
With each passing year, the NHSFR says it aspires to promote the sport of rodeo and the highest type of conduct and sportsmanship among its participants, and to expose its positive image to the general public. Every time the event is held it attempts “to preserve the Western heritage, offer an opportunity of continuing education” through its foundation and numerous scholarships, and “maintain the highest regard for livestock.”
Harms may not have left Rock Springs, Wyoming with any hardware, but just the fact of his competing at the NHSFR has firmly placed him among the ranks of some the rodeo stars of the future.
