Halle Mowery and Kaden Burger each left Guthrie with a world title after competing all week long against a tough field of cowgirls and horsepower at the World Championship Junior Rodeo.
Working their way up through the Last Chance Qualifiers, both athletes had to grind to get to No. 1.
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Youth Division: Mowery Wipes the Slate Clean
Halle Mowery, 15, of Moorcroft, Wyoming, was dominant at the end of the week inside the Lazy E.
She came up through the Last Chance Qualifiers, but didn’t have the start to her week that she wanted.
“My first day I went in there and I knocked two barrels, I just wasn’t riding my horse,” Mowery said. “The second day I was just going back to the basics and riding my horse, and that came out well. I did the same thing and quickened it up a bit. In the finals I just went out there and got a good run in, and it turned out great.”
It turned out great enough for a world title. Mowery ran a 15.151 in the semifinals and followed with a 14.931 in the finals for a two-run aggregate of 30.082, which was good enough for $3,705 and the youth division title.
Turning a bad first round into three straight good ones came down to a short memory.
“I just completely blanked out my mind out and completely restarted,” she said. “That’s how I need to do it.”
She credits plenty of that turnaround to her mare, Maple.
“She’s got a personality,” Mowery said. “She knows who she is, and she knows she’s a winner. It’s the best I would say.”
She hasn’t had the mare long, but the pair seems to get along well.
“Well, I’ve had her not that long, but we’ve clicked, and the people around me who know who they are and who’ve helped me—I just get here and she’s awesome,” Mowery said.
Junior Division: Burger Makes it Count
Kaden Burger, 19, also came up through the Last Chance Qualifier rounds early in the week at the Lazy E Arena.
This marked her last year competing at the WCJR event, so she knew she had to bring her A-game.
“This year was special,” Burger said. “I ran here last year for the first time, but this year is extra special because this is my last year.”
She did it on a horse that isn’t even hers. Kellie Sun—known around the barn as Pudding—is owned by Marty and Shayla Powers. The mare started out as a rope horse before Burger began training her on the pattern about a year ago.
“About three months ago, it just clicked for her,” Burger said. “She does it with ease. It looks like she’s loping sometimes.”
The clock backed her up. Burger ran a 14.664 in the semifinals—the fastest of the round—and followed with a 14.681 in the finals for a two-run aggregate of 29.345, good for the world title and a $4,017 payout.