Montana’s top high school rodeo athletes compete for state titles in Kalispell

KALISPELL, Mont. — The state’s top young rodeo athletes gathered in Kalispell this week for the Montana High School Rodeo Association Finals.

“There’s kids from all over the state coming and competing together and it’s just so fun to have such great competition, such a great organization, and to be able to run like this is super fun,” said rider Mackenzie Martell from Three Forks.

The MHSRA has over ten events including bareback riding, barrel racing, steer wrestling, saddle bronc riding, breakaway roping, tie down roping, and more.

The competition is drawn out over a week and there is a first go-round and second go-round of performances.

Five riders competed in the second go-round of bareback riding, and Wylee Berglund came out on top with a score of 68.5, staying aboard a bucking horse with nothing but a rigging to hold onto.

Next up was barrel racing which is the most competitive event in the competition with 58 total riders.

The rider taking first place for barrels was Brooklyn Russel from Helena, who set the record time of 15.61 seconds.

Steer wrestling’s Burke Nowak set a record time of 5.72 seconds in his second go-round.

The state competition goes until Saturday with the championship round at 1 p.m. and the year-end awards presentation at 5 p.m.