POCATELLO — Why not, Winn Southwick figured.
His great grandfather, Dale Southwick, rode bucking horses — even making a few bucks along the way. Then came his uncle, Butch Edwards, who won the 1970 Idaho high school championship in bareback riding. Two years later, Gayland Edwards, his grandfather, did the same.
“I thought I might as well give it a try and see if I’m any good at it,” Southwick said.
Well, yeah, he is. Really good, actually.
The blond-topped Southwick, who had never climbed aboard a bareback horse in a competitive rodeo until this season — his junior year at Jerome High School — capped a stunning showing at the Idaho High School Rodeo Association State Finals on Saturday by winning his family’s third championship buckle in the sport’s original event.
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He was the only cowboy to score on all four rides this week at the Bannock County Event Center, including a 54-point effort in the short go that was enough to push him to the top of the leaderboard.
That ride, remarkably, was just the 13th of his competitive career. A few hours later, Southwick accepted a shiny championship buckle and posed for pictures at an awards ceremony in front of the grandstands.
Even he was in awe.
“I could have never imagined this,” Southwick told the Times-News.
He paused, then repeated himself: “Could not have imagined it. I was just happy to ride.”
Southwick was one of six Magic Valley contestants to leave Pocatello as a state champion and among 10 local cowboys and cowgirls to qualify for next month’s 75th annual National High School Finals Rodeo.
Rupert’s Teely Bott reclaimed the barrel racing title, winning for the second time in three years, and Jerome’s Tucker Taylor topped Trey McFarlane, the state’s 2023 all-around cowboy, and Malta’s Dally Sears to win the bull riding.
“Last year, I got on a pretty rank dude and I was thinking about it, thinking too much and not just having fun,” Taylor told the Times-News, reflecting on the 2022 short go. “This year, I just told myself, ‘It’s just a rodeo, it’s not gonna matter tomorrow. Just go have fun and win it.’”
He added, “It’s a really good feeling right now, because taking second left a bitter taste in my mouth last year. I don’t take second very well. I’m glad to be winning it.”
Castleford’s Katie Brackett didn’t settle for second, either. She was crowned queen during a coronation ceremony ahead of the short go, five days after her cousin, Chantry Brackett of Kimberly, won the Magic Valley’s first title of this year’s finals in girls cutting.
Like Southwick, Trey Smith was an unlikely state champion, too. In his first year of wrestling steers, like his dad, Dustin, before him, Smith came out of nowhere this week and tied Middleton’s Sam Kofoed for the state title.
“It’s awesome. I can’t even believe it,” said Smith, who lives in Gooding but attends Jerome High School, where he recently finished his freshman year.
“I got my first one, then I got my second one — and with an even faster time. Got my third one,” Smith told the Times-News, recounting his week. “And today, I had a tough steer. Nobody had thrown him, I just threw him.”
On a day of surprise champions, Bott wasn’t one of them. She turned four clean cloverleaf patterns in under 18 seconds, including a 17.558 that was second in the short go, to finish in the same spot she ended up in as a rookie in 2021.
“Honestly, freshman year, I was super excited because I was a freshman and going to nationals,” Bott told the Times-News, about 10 minutes after her sister informed her she had again won the championship. “Last year, I had high expectations but my horse tripped a few times. That happens. My horse did trip (this year), but I knew what I had to do.”
She added, “It’s pretty cool, honestly. I’ve worked hard to get back to this level.”
While Bott took the suspense out of barrel racing, the chase for the bull riding title wasn’t decided until the final four rides — more than four hours into the short go.
Taylor, who won the first round and split first in the second go, came into the day second to Sears after get bucked off Friday in his final long-go ride.
He put that disappointment out of his mind and skillfully kept his spot atop a bucking bull that jumped high into the air a few times while attempting to dump his passenger. While the bull staggered Taylor after the eight-second buzzer, the cowboy won the duel, scoring 78 points to secure the title.
“When you get bucked off a good bull like that, you can’t hang back and think, ‘Oh, I fell off that round, I’m not good.’ Or, ‘I sucked that round,’” Taylor said. “If I had done that, I wouldn’t have went into the short round with confidence. I felt good. It was sure fun!”
Taylor cracked a knowing smile and added, “The job’s not done. I want that national title.”
Southwick will join him at the NHSFR, set for July 16-23 in Gillette, Wyoming.
“It’s pretty crazy,” Chester Southwick told the Times-News between bites of fries and meat after the final results were posted with his son’s name in first place.
Across the picnic table sat Gayland Edwards, the 1972 state champion bareback rider.
“He’s got a natural ability on those horses,” Edwards told the Times-News. “Coming over here, I said to him, ‘You know, luck only the luck of the draw. It’s skill and diligence that carries you through.’ And it did.”
Now, the young Southwick will ready for a trip to Wyoming. His first priority?
“I just got to learn how to spur before nationals,” he said, seriously.
Also:
- Katie Brackett, whose mom, Kimberly, was the state’s queen in 1993, was as relieved as she was happy after winning the queen competition, the culmination of three years of work. “I’ve had my breath held the entire week,” the cowgirl told the Times-News. “The way I look at it is, I made an investment. I invested by time, my energy. My investment paid off.”
- Sears was the only Magic Valley contestant to qualify for nationals in two events after finishing third in bull riding and saddle bronc riding. He was limping at the post-rodeo awards ceremony after getting bucked off his bull and stepped on but appeared to avoid serious injury.
- Oakley’s Briggs Matthews qualified for his first national finals after taking fourth in boys cutting this week. “It’s an adrenaline rush,” Matthews told the Times-News. Kimberly’s Wesley Zebarth will also compete in boys cutting for Idaho at the NHSFR.
- Jerome’s Britt Wells made the Idaho contingent for the national finals with a fourth-place finish in bareback riding.