A new group of national champions were crowned at this year’s National Jr. High Finals Rodeo (NJHRF), held June 2329 at Des Moines, IA, after earning the right to represent their home state.
Among the 42 competitors that represented South Dakota were two area youth, Londyn Mikkelson of Alpena and Wyatt Fagerhaug of rural Wessington Springs. Both Mikkelson and Fagerhaug earned their spots at the NJHRF in two events. Mikkelson in girls goat tying and ribbon roping and Fagerhaug in boys breakaway roping and boys goat tying.
In Fagerhaug’s first goround of boys breakaway roping he completed the event in 3.52 seconds to earn him 36th place of the round and was not enough to qualify for the short-go round. He finished 68th in the overall average for boys breakaway roping.
Fagerhaug was able to make up for this in boys goat tying as he finished the first-go round in 13.31 seconds to earn him 52nd place for the round. In the second go-round, he finished in 10.03 seconds earning him 10th place for the round and coming in 20th in boys goat tying average to qualify for the short-go round. Fagerhaug placed 11th in the short-go round with a time of 12.24 seconds. He finished 15th in the overall boys goat tying average.
In Mikkelson’s first goround of girls goat tying, she completed the event in 9.07 seconds to tie for 19th place in the round. In the second go-round, she finished in 8.96 seconds to earn 18th place in the round and coming in 8th in girls goat tying average to qualify for the shortgo round. Mikkelson placed 9th in the short-go round with a time of 9.96 seconds. She placed 11th in the overall average for girls goat tying.
In her second event, Mikkelson and her partner Cooper Conry (Saint Onge) completed the first go-round of ribbon roping in 15th place for the round with a time of 7.3 seconds. In the second go-round, the duo finished in 7.6 seconds for 10th place for the round, coming in 14th in the ribbon roping average.
The South Dakota girls ended up fifth in the overall standings with 2,045 points. The South Dakota boys were tenth with a score of 2,650.