New Mexico High School Rodeo

Navajo Nation to be represented at nationals

CHURCH ROCK, N.M.

Rooster Yazzie and Corey Charley stayed very much in the hunt at earning a berth to the National High School Finals Rodeo.

Both cowboy earned enough points during the regular season of the New Mexico High School Rodeo Association.

The National High School Finals Rodeo is scheduled for July 17-23 in Gillette, Wyo.

Over the Memorial Day weekend, they both added to their year-end totals by placing in their respective events and finished as the reserve champion during the three-day state finals.

Yazzie won the first two rounds in the steer wrestling event and finished the season with 115 points and trailed event winner Brady Reneau by 28 points.

“I missed two rodeos at the start of the season and I had to play catch up,” said Yazzie, who lost his steer in Sunday night’s short round performance.

Charley, meanwhile, teamed up with Zant Zamora as the pair placed in all three rounds with their best finish coming in the opening round where they turned in a 7.57 run.

That second place finished earned them nine points as they entered the short round trailing the event leaders by four points. In that performance, though, the pair had to regroup when Charley missed his first attempt.

But with his second loop they recorded 25.98 run and placed fifth in the round. With that they ended with 174 points, losing the state crown by 14 markers.

“We’re still making nationals,” Charley said. “I wish we would have done a little better here but I’m happy with how the season went.”

Zamora said he hopes that they can place and maybe win it this year.

“It will be huge to win it,” said Zamora, who watched the finals last year as a trap shooter qualifier.

“The teams that made it last year were not super fast but of course there are teams are going to be fast,” he said. “There are teams that are going to catch every time and those are the teams that is going to win.”

Charley said they are one of those teams that are going to consistently catch.

“We have a great chance to place at nationals,” he said.

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