Northern New Mexico Youth Fare Well In National Junior High Finals Rodeo Competition In Perry, Georgia

The Trujillo Cousins at the Georgia National Fairgrounds in Perry Georgia. Courtesy photo

Miguel Martinez/Courtesy photo

BY RONDA TRUJILLO

Five youth from Northern New Mexico qualified in various events to compete and represent the state at the 2022 National Junior High Finals Rodeo in Perry, GA in June. The top four competitors in each event at the state level earned a place at nationals to compete. At the finals, competitors came from 43 states, five Canadian provinces, Australia, Mexico and New Zealand. It was quite a time: rodeo jackpots, volleyball tournaments, fishing tournaments, dances and the important stuff: 11 rodeo performances.

Addison Tixier of Lindrith, participated in the .22 light rifle shoot. The competitors shoot in three positions: prone, standing and kneeling. There were 165 junior high shooters competing in the scorching Georgia heat. Addison did great, placing 26th in the nation.

Miguel Martinez of Chama, participated in bull riding. Miguel made a great ride in the first round but had a heart-breaking buck off in the second round, missing the 8 second mark by a mere five-hundredths of a second, ending his fight to make it to the short round.

Teagan Trujillo of Abiquiu, participated in the girl’s goat tying. Teagan made two solid runs on big goats, however her times weren’t quick enough to make it to the short round.

Stetson Trujillo of Abiquiu, participated in chute dogging and boy’s goat tying. Stetson “threw” his steers in both the first and second rounds, but long times prevented him from making the short round. In the boy’s goat tying, like his cousin Teagan, he made two solid runs on each of his goats, but his combined times were too long to make the short go, so his goat tying career ended following the second round (boy’s goat tying is a junior high only event).

Wacey Trujillo of Abiquiu, participated in three events: girl’s breakaway, ribbon roping and girl’s goat tying. In breakaway, she caught her first round calf quick but broke the barrier and in the second round she missed her calf, preventing her from competing in the short round. In ribbon roping, she and her partner did really well in the first two rounds, making it back to the short round and they placed eighth overall in the nation. In girl’s goat tying, to quote the announcers in Georgia, “it was the Wacey Trujillo show,” sweeping the event. Wacey won the first round, won the second round and won the short round, achieving the coveted title of World Champion in the girl’s goat tying. It is currently believed that this is the first time in Junior High Finals Rodeo history that an individual has completely dominated a single event and won the 1^st round, 2^nd round, and short round. Wacey finished 3^rd in the girl’s all-around standings at the finals.

Overall, New Mexico was well represented, in team points across the nation team New Mexico finished second! If you have the Cowboy Channel, all performances are currently being broadcast, so you might catch one of these local cowboys/cowgirls on the TV.