On Saturday morning, only hours before that night’s deciding championship, or ‘short’ go-round, Shylene Drumm was to make her second of two guaranteed runs in the 2025 National High School Finals Rodeo’s pole bending competition.
Though the wait for rider and horse was long, it effectively gave the Durango entrant, tops in the Colorado State High School Rodeo Association’s year-end points in the specialty, something of an edge in terms of knowing a time to target.
Included in the NHSFR’s very first performance on July 13, performance, Drumm had clocked 22.146 seconds for the out-and-back weave, a time good enough for 14th place out of 29 vying in the session. Setting the initial bar for all to reach were Crete, Nebraska’s Lindsey Wackel (20.937) and Atlanta, Missouri’s Bailey Watson (21.191).
By the time the first go-round was finished, 26 individuals had competed, with two – Gracie Snyder (19.769) of Hendrix, Oklahoma, and Zoey Wagoner (19.797) of Arnegard, North Dakota, breaking 20 seconds. This applied even more pressure to, among others, Drumm and Bayfield’s Teagan McInnes.
Having also earned a trip to the Sweetwater Events Complex in Rock Springs, Wyoming, by finishing fourth in the aforementioned CSHSRA standings, McInnes ranked 64th after the first go (Drumm was 91st) thanks to her 21.553 logged on Tuesday, when she took 13th in that morning’s performance.
McInnes’ second ride was slated for Thursday evening and fortune, unfortunately, did her no favor as she posted a 25.929 – good for 22nd out of 31 in the performance but, as of Saturday morning, just 103rd in the second go with Drumm among nearly 30 others still hoping to improve their standing in relation to current leader Quil Filippini (19.554) of Eureka, Nevada, as well as in the overall average.
‘TWO’ DO LIST: Via her fourth-place CSHSRA finish in goat tying during the ’24-25 grind, Drumm earned herself a second spot in Rock Springs, the most populous locale in Wyoming’s largest county. On her first attempt on Monday morning, she got the job done in 8.66 seconds – a time which ended up landing her in 12th place out of 25 vying in the session, including leader Kam White (6.98) of Iredell, Tex., and eventually 68th (out of 147) for the completed first go.
Drumm’s second try was scheduled for Friday evening, July 18, and she trimmed her previous time down to 8.62 in placing 11th behind the 7.04 achieved by Crawford, Nebraska’s Tatum Reid. As of Saturday morning, Reid ranked seventh in the second-go standings, while Drumm’s effort had her in 62nd. In the average, however, she checked in at 41st while Reid, for comparison, held down 12th behind front-runner Hadley Thompson (13.71 on two) of Yoder, Wyoming.
In poles, McInnes (47.482/2) began the tense Saturday ranked 79th and Drumm (22.146/1) 157th in the average, with Snyder (39.338/2) and Wagoner (39.418/2) atop the table.
Additional representation: Also representing Colorado at the NHSFR were Pagosa Springs’ Tucker Jacobson and Colt Lewis.
Lewis was runner-up statewide in saddle bronc to Traven Sharon, of Ordway, but a graduate of and four-time CHSAA State Champion in wrestling for Fowler High School. Lewis’ guaranteed tries in the roughstock event were set for Tuesday evening and Thursday morning, and he wasted no time in making himself known with a first-place 71 in the former.
In the latter, Lewis was even better in the judges’ eyes, though his 72-point ride ended up trailing only the 73 of Dexter, Kansas’ Wyatt Martin. Still, as of Saturday morning, Lewis was poised to earn a berth in the short go; his 143/2 figures had him sharing fourth place (with East Helena, Montana’s Colton Haase) in the average – paced by, coincidentally, Sharon (156/2).
Jacobson, meanwhile, qualified in both bareback (as the CSHSRA year-end champ) and bulls (fourth place), and during the Monday evening performance he earned 68 points on his initial bareback ride – tying him with Killdeer, North Dakota’s Elijah Ramos for fifth place out of nine entrants successfully registering a score, and eventually landing Jacobson in a four-way tie for 26th after the first full go-round.
On Friday morning, Jacobson next rode and again ended up top five; his 67 matched that of Sulphur, Louisiana’s Bryer Prince, and the two split third place while Evanston, Wyoming’s Braunson Sims posted a leading 74. But as Saturday dawned, Jacobson was on the proverbial bubble in terms of reaching the discipline’s short go; his 135/2 numbers had him tied for 25th in the average, but he was only three points away from 20th (Prince was 19th with his 140/2 marks).
