Andy Larsen: A short drive but a world away in Utah’s rodeo country

Heber City • It wasn’t my first rodeo. It was my second.

Like many Utahns, I’ve been to a Days of ’47 rodeo around Pioneer Day, but I can’t say it caught on within my soul. That meant, when I headed up to Heber City for the Utah High School Rodeo Finals recently, I was what you might call a greenhorn.

I prepared, though, I swear. I wore a button-down shirt with a pattern. I wore jeans — black, not blue, unfortunately, due to laundry and naïveté. And while I don’t own a pair of cowboy boots, I did wear my most soiled sneakers, knowing I’d be walking around in the dirt. Sneakily, I parked my Mini Cooper between two massive pickup trucks near the back, hoping to avoid detection.

Walking through the back entrance of the Wasatch County Event Complex, a voice called out.

“You look like a newsman,” he said.

My efforts to fit in had lasted about five seconds.

The voice belonged to Brad McKee, president of the Utah High School Rodeo Association (UHSRA), and he kindly began to show me around the surprisingly large complex with its two outdoor arenas, with space for 8,000 spectators.

Just outside the stands stood a sponsors’ market of sorts: dozens of vendor booths selling various country gear, from stirrups to saddles and more leather products than you can imagine.

(Bethany Baker | The Salt Lake Tribune) Cowboys line up near the bucking shoots during the Utah High School Rodeo Association state finals in Heber City on Wednesday, June 4, 2025.

One focal point was a table near the scorers’ area where folks were gathering signatures of support for 16-year-old Boston Langston, who suffered a traumatic brain injury in May while competing in a team roping competition in Delta. Boston’s horse collided with the steer, bowled over, and nearly killed the sophomore in the process. He had to be flown to Primary Children’s Hospital’s ICU.

The image stuck in my head the rest of the night.

The UHSRA hosts 45 rodeos across the state — from Tremonton to Hurricane, as they put it.

It’s a significant travel and time commitment for these students. A bill passed by the Utah State Legislature in the 2025 session, though, made the scheduling easier for high school rodeo contestants. As of July 1, participating in rodeo competitions will be a valid excuse for missing school, the same as participating in other sports through the Utah High School Activities Association.

Heber City is the home of a two-week bonanza of state finals rodeo competitions. Among about 800 members, about 550 participate in the finals. The top four in each event qualify for the National High School Finals Rodeo, held in mid-July in Wyoming.

The beginning of Utah’s weeklong finals is largely dedicated to shooting, trapping, and the rodeo queen competition. Wednesday through Saturday features seven different performances, in which competitors accrue points in a variety of events: bareback horse and bull riding, various forms of tying, and barrel racing.

Taking in the scene, it felt like something more than just sport, and something I wanted to better understand as I trudged around in my dirty Adidas.

(Bethany Baker | The Salt Lake Tribune) Jhet Hanks competes in the team roping event during the Utah High School Rodeo Association state finals in Heber City on Wednesday, June 4, 2025.

Brannam Cumbie, a senior team roper from Tremonton, told me that in his normal day, “I probably get up at 5:30 or 6, and I’m out there until dark or after.”

It’s the type of work ethic you find in rodeo that leads to successful sporting careers at perhaps a higher rate than any other Utah high school sport. Seven women and seven men have won all-around cowgirl and cowboy at the national high school rodeo finals. Despite the wider love of basketball and football, a Utah high school has never won a national championship.

Stetson Wright, from Beaver, graduated from Milford High in 2018 and has already won three professional world championships. He is currently at it again, ranked the world’s No. 1 overall cowboy by the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association for 2025. But he’s joined by Dean Thompson (Altamont), Mason Clements (Spanish Fork), and his two brothers, Ryder and Statler Wright, among the top 10 contestants in their disciplines in the world standings.

With that in mind, I sat down in the stands to watch the future rodeo stars of America go to work. The competition began with a nearly 15-minute-long introduction that included at least five minutes for sponsors — each got a horse’s ride around the largest rodeo arena — and a lengthy tribute to the American flag.

Then, just as the events were about to start: “We need EMTs down to the east side of the arena,” the stadium announcer interjected. “Looks like there could have been a wreck out back.”

Fresh off the memory of what happened in Delta, the EMTs found their way to the warmup pen, finding a young girl and her family huddled around her behind a trailer. Keeping my distance as the authorities began to work, I overheard a few eyewitness accounts of what had happened — the girl’s horse had collided with one or multiple other horses also getting ready for the night’s events, knocking the girl off and to the ground.

(Bethany Baker | The Salt Lake Tribune) Lily Jo Wright barrel races during the Utah High School Rodeo Association state finals in Heber City on Wednesday, June 4, 2025.

The good news was that this situation was much less significant than Langston’s: the girl’s head was checked out and passed inspection by the EMTs, and the more significant testing seemed to be on her leg. No medical helicopter was needed on this occasion.

Still, the experience shook me as I watched the remainder of the rodeo. While the bareback riders tried to stay on horses as they bucked, or as the cowgirls raced their horses in tight circles around barrels, pushing them to the limit of trips and falls, I was concerned. Even watching the neck-snapping force on the animals of the tying events had me feeling a bit queasy.

Of course, nothing feels as dangerous as the bull riding. In both the junior high and high school classes, the vast majority of the riders were bucked off by gigantic bulls with nicknames like “Pistol” and “Wildfire” before the 8-second goal, then had to get off and run for their lives afterwards. One kid I had met earlier that day, a 14-year-old named Van Anderson, was one of the successful escapees from a massive bull named Rio.

Finally, and to my relief, the event was over. The emergency staff packed up and went home. I wouldn’t be covering a life-threatening injury on this day.

The rodeo’s night had one last component: the ceremonies. Awards were handed out, of course, to those who had won the week’s events.

Daxtyn Field was the all-around cowboy winner, Ellie Thompson took home the all-around cowgirl top spot.

(Bethany Baker | The Salt Lake Tribune) Kwincee Kosoff barrel races during the Utah High School Rodeo Association state finals in Heber City on Wednesday, June 4, 2025.

But perhaps more celebrated than the award winners were the scholarship recipients that evening.

I hadn’t expected this. When a football team wins the state championships, you know some of those kids are going to get scholarships to college — but the money comes from the colleges themselves down the road. In rodeo, the corporate sponsors of the UHSRA actually end up contributing sponsorships for dozens and dozens of students to head to colleges. In all, $109,000 worth of scholarships were given out that week.

Some, yes, went to the best rodeo competitors.

But, again bucking the expectations, some of the most significant financial rewards were given to those who best fit the spirit of the event, the high school students who most impressed and uplifted others in the competition with their approach. Those scholarships were typically dedicated after those in the rodeo community who had experienced too-early life-threatening accidents or death, and their stories were told as the granted students walked up to receive their checks.

(Bethany Baker | The Salt Lake Tribune) Spectators head to their seat during the Utah High School Rodeo Association state finals in Heber City on Wednesday, June 4, 2025.

Past tragedy and future success were two sides of the same coin.

“These kids will go on to college, trade schools, or whatever,” McKee told me. “They’ll get degrees, some in veterinary science, or farming and ranching, and make the backbone of America.”

It all made me think back to something Cumbie, the team roper, had told me earlier that day.

“We do this all day. All day, every day. It’s not a hobby. It’s a lifestyle,” Cumbie said. It’s how Cumbie, and hundreds and thousands more like him, have chosen to make their way in the world.

I walked back to my Mini Cooper tucked between the trucks with new perspective.

Rodeo might not be my lifestyle. But it’s a lifestyle that has my respect.