Chantry Brackett was out on her family’s ranch south of Twin Falls on Tuesday to start the chore of branding calves for the rest of the week.
Some 24 hours earlier, the Kimberly cowgirl was leaving her mark at the Idaho High School Rodeo Association State Finals in Pocatello.
Brackett and her horse, Lucas, won the Magic Valley’s first championship at the week-long finals at the Bannock County Event Center, totaling 574.5 points with a consistent, workmanlike showing across four rounds in the girls cutting competition. She placed second in the first two rounds, scored points in the third go and took fifth in the short go.
“It was so fun,” Brackett told the Times-News. “In all honesty, going to state, I was going to be happy just to make it to nationals — even if I snuck in there in fourth place. When I walked out of there with the championship, I think I even impressed myself.”
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Brackett was one of two Kimberly contestants on Monday to secure a trip to the 75th annual National High School Finals Rodeo, the world’s largest rodeo featuring more than 1,700 cowboys and cowgirls from 44 states, five Canadian provinces, Australia, Mexico and New Zealand. Wesley Zebarth, the District 6 champion in boys cutting, placed third to qualify for the July 16-23 finals in Gillette, Wyoming.
It’ll be the first trip to nationals for Brackett, a senior-to-be at Kimberly High School who, like Zebarth, won the district title this season. She credited Lucas, her “awesome” horse, for helping her refine her skills in cutting, the western-style discipline in which horse and rider are judged on their ability to separate a cow from its herd.
The daughter of Ira and Kim Brackett, Chantry Brackett began riding Lucas last year after determining she’d benefit from a horse with “a lot more experience” than her previous mount in the event.
“It’s been a great learning curve for me,” said Brackett, who also tipped her hat to Wade Hyer, Richard Jordan and Mike Zebarth, the coaches who have guided her development from a novice cutter in eighth grade to, now, a state champion.
“I knew that consistency was going to be the most important thing,” she added. “I had practiced a lot to get down the fundamentals with my horse, so we could just go make consistent runs.”
St. Anthony’s Jett Brower, the 2021 IHSRA Rookie Cowboy of the Year, won the boys cutting championship by a single point after claiming the District 7 title during the regular season.
The state finals continued while Brackett worked on the ranch. Caldwell’s Shawny Telford won the third championship of the week-long rodeo, besting the rest of the field in reined cow horse. Her sister, Sierra, finished second, and defending state champion Sloan McFarlane was fourth.
The first go finished Tuesday with a morning performance and a night performance that was interrupted by lightning and delayed for about 30 minutes.
Jerome’s Tucker Taylor (bull riding), Rupert’s Lucas Cruz (tie-down roping) and Middleton’s Sam Kofoed (steer wrestling) earned wins for the Magic Valley districts.
Taylor, who was bucked off only twice during the District 5 spring season, rode for 75.5 points on Monday night. District 6 champion Dally Sears of Malta, who scored 74, was second and defending state champion Austen Hamblin third with 71 points.
Cruz, the winner in District 6 during the regular season, won with a time of 11.82 seconds. Zebarth was fifth in the round.
Kofoed, who won the District 6 title in bulldogging, clocked 5.04 seconds.
Other top Magic Valley finishers in the first go:
- Rupert’s Teely Bott, the 2021 state champion in barrel racing, clocked 17.59 to finish second.
- Jerome’s Britt Wells placed fourth in bareback riding.
- Jerome’s Winn Southwick ended up fifth in bareback riding and steer wrestling.
The fourth and fifth rodeo performances will go off Wednesday to start the second go, plus the light rifle shoot long go.
The top four finishers in each event from the state finals will qualify for the NHSFR.