Diné cowboy captures two AJHSRA state crowns

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Prior to this season, John Boyd IV had not won a state title in the Arizona Junior High School Rodeo Association.

At the conclusion of the junior high finals last month in Holbrook, the 15 year-old cowboy claimed two state titles as he will represent team Arizona at the National Junior High Finals in Perry, Georgia June 18-24.

“It just means that I’m doing a lot better than what I did the last two years,” Boyd said of the significance of winning the year-end titles in the tie-down roping and ribbon roping with partner Cauleen Segay of Fort Defiance.

Boyd is originally from Kayenta and he currently lives in Casa Grande, Arizona with parents John III and Sammi Jo Boyd.

The Boyd/Segay pair earned 126.5 points each in the final standings as they edged the Colter Lee Todd and Savanna Keith by 6.5 points for the state crown.

Going into the state finals, the Diné ribbon roping pair were sitting third overall in the season standings, but behind a fantastic finish they moved up two spots.

They placed second in each go-round and took first in the average with an aggregate of 28.28 seconds.

“I was on my toes and I just remember my dad telling me that I had be fast,” the Casa Grande, Arizona cowboy said.

“We were really consistent and we were on point,” Segay said.

They recorded runs of 9.62 seconds in the first round, 9.52 in the second and 9.14 in the short round.

Those runs earned them 42 points and that bumped the pair into first place in the final standings.

In the tie-down race, Boyd entered the state finals in a three-way tie for first with Phoenix cowboy Ryker Sarchett and Lexington, Oklahoma cowboy Bobby Vaughan.

The three cowboys earned 84 points each during the regular season, but Boyd staked his claim by turning in three good runs.

“It was neck-and-neck,” Boyd said. “We were all close to each other and my parents told me that this was going to teach me how to be consistent.

“My mom just told me to rope smart,” he added.

In the first two rounds, he placed third with runs of 15.10 and 13.19, and in the short round he added a fourth place finish of 18.3 and finished the aggregate race with a combined time of 34.15 seconds.

With his exploits, he earned 38 point to his year-end total of 122 points.

“I kind of got pressured up in the short round,” Boyd said. “When I got out there my curl wrapped around the tail and I had to grab the calf’s ears to throw it down.”

Sarchett gained 25.5 points at the state finals, earning sixth place honors in the first round, ninth in the second and third in the short round for an aggregate of 73.05 seconds.

He earned 25.5 points, which included a 10.5 points in the average race as he was the reserve champion for a year-end total of 109.5 points.

Vaughan, meanwhile, had some trouble at the state finals with a pair of no times. The Oklahoma cowboy had a runner-up finish in the second round.

Boyd competed in three other events at the state finals as he missed earning qualifications in the boys goat tying and chute dogging.

He took fifth overall in the goats with 93 points with Vaughan taking the final spot with 94.5 points.

Of those points, Vaughan earned 31.5 points at the finals as he took fourth in the average by placing seventh in the first round, second in the next round and third in the short go round.

Boyd placed second, eighth and sixth in his go rounds and took fifth overall in the average race, earning 23 points.

“I got bumped out, but I tried my best,” he said of his goat tying efforts.

As for the chute dogging, he finished sixth overall with 90.5 points as he had one of his draws fall on him at the state finals.

“I had to regroup and that cost me,” he said. “I thought I was going to make it in the chute dogging because I was sitting in the top four before state.”

This will be Boyd’s third and final trip to junior high finals with his best finish taking place two years ago when he finished in the top 10 in the boys breakaway his sixth grade year.

“I’m excited about going back, but I’m gonna have to practice extra hard,” he said. “I’ve seen videos of the kids at the junior high finals and they’re fast.”

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