BEAVER SPRINGS — Rodeo is a tough sport. Just ask Cody Rice or Kesley Pontius. They were two competitors who tumbled off their rides in the Saturday night rodeo at the Beaver Springs Fairgrounds.
Rice was the third contestant in the bull riding, and only seconds out of the gate, he was tossed to the ground, landing with an audible thud. Pontius, riding at a full gallop in the poles event, was flung from her mount as she wheeled sharply to start around the first pole. She limped out of the arena, while leaning on an official, to applause from the audience.
Both were among more than 50 high school students from around the state, all members of the Pennsylvania High School Rodeo Association. The show at Beaver Springs marks the first time the rodeo has been there.
Misty Guyer, rodeo secretary, explained that the 80 students who are members of the association travel around the state from August through June each year, riding in about 24 rodeos each season, vying for a chance to compete in the state finals at the Farm Show Building in Harrisburg on June 6. The top four contestants in each event go on to nationals, held in July.
“It’s a huge commitment,” said Guyer, whose daughter, Brelyn, is state rodeo queen this year. “From where we live in Newburg (near Shippensburg), this was a three-hour drive. Some of the trips are six hours or more.”
From August through Thanksgiving and then again from March through June, Guyer and her daughter are at a rodeo every other weekend. In addition to performances all over Pennsylvania, they have travelled to West Virginia, New York and Canada to compete.
An hour or so before the Saturday night show, a heavy thunderstorm came through the area, and the students and their families huddled inside a building at the fairgrounds as rain and strong winds lashed the area, lightning flashed and thunder boomed. Officials were undecided whether to hold the 7 p.m. event, but when the storm passed and the rain stopped, they decided to proceed 15 minutes late.
The young men competing in bull riding kicked off their sneakers and pulled on western-style boots, then buckled on leather chaps over their jeans. They donned heavy vests that resembled body armor to protect them from the flailing hooves of the bulls.
Some of the boys stood alone, stretching and arching their backs, while others sat on the fences above the chutes, poking and kidding one another as boys do. When a contestant prepared to board his bull, he pulled on a helmet with a face guard. Once aboard the bull, his intent was to stay aboard until a horn sounded 10 seconds into the ride. Then he needed to get off the bull and away from it safely.
“It’s tough,” said Roger Gee, of Lawrenceville. “You can get hurt easy.”
In order to cover all the events in about three hours — “That’s how long most people will sit” — Guyer explained that only the first 9 or 10 contestants in most events compete during the main show. The others competed earlier in the afternoon, in what’s known as “slack.” Their scores count just as much as the main event.
As soon as the nine bull riders had completed their rides, the first girls event, poles, began. In this event, riders gallop the length of the area, then turn sharply and zig-zag between half a dozen poles, wheel around and do it again, then gallop full-tilt to the finish line. The object is to complete the course without touching any of the poles in the best time. Several riders managed to do so in the 22- to 26-second range, although several did knock over poles, costing them points.
Later in the evening, barrel racing, goat tying, calf roping, breakaway roping, bronc riding, steer wrestling and team roping took place.
Only a small crowd, mostly parents and friends of the riders, watched the show, keeping one eye on the sky, where thunderheads gathered as the sun went down.
Area students competing include Jake Werich, of Beavertown; Alainie McDade, of Selinsgrove; Lauren Wagner, of McClure; Dustin Holub, of Sunbury; John Ryan Foster, of Weikert; and Kesley Pontius, of Watsontown.
A second performance at Beaver Springs will take place this afternoon beginning at 1 p.m. Tickets are $8 for adults and $6 for children 12 and younger.
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Beaver Springs: Cowboy up ... and down
50 students take part in rodeo
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