Rockin' the SWAHSRA Finals

We have been hauling to High School Rodeos every other weekend since last August. This weekend was the Southwest Arkansas High School Rodeo Association finals at the Four States Fairgrounds in Texarkana. To qualify for the finals, the kids had to compete in at least 1/2 of the Rodeos and make it into the TOP 15 in their event.


This was Alissa's first year to compete so she only did barrels (although she thinks she is going to start roping next year, I'm not so sure about that one). She fought hard all year; there are 32 kids in her division and the competition is really tough!! Alissa is a peewee which is the youngest age group. The girl who won peewee barrels last night ran a 15!!!! But all of Alissa's hard work paid off at the last rodeo of the regular year when she tied for the 15th spot and got to go to the finals! They told us that even though there would actually be 16 peewee barrel racers going to the finals, only the top 15 at the end of the weekend would get awards. That was okay with Alissa. She just wanted to go to THE BIG SHOW!



On Friday night, she didn't even run until after midnight. For a kid that goes to bed at 8:30 every night, that's really late. I think Buddy, her horse, was almost as exhausted as she was. But they had a pretty good run and wound up placing 5th. That's the highest she has ever placed, so we were sooooo excited for her! Saturday night she was the very first person to compete! (The organization runs it backwards on saturday.) Buddy was a little stiff from being stalled the night before and I think Alissa was pretty nervous. They had a good run, but not as good as they have been. She wound up in 12th on Saturday night. She went into the finals tied for 15th place, and she ended up being 15th out of 16. Considering she competed against 35 kids throughout the year, I think she did really great for her first year.

This was the first year for the twins to compete in the senior high division. They both did such an awesome job!


I wish you could have been their when Tyler and Mike May (a boy Tyler heels for) stretched their steer in 8 seconds. The place exploded! Tyler won a saddler for CHAMPION HEELER, 4th in bullriding, and 3rd in Shute Dogging. Ohh, and he won the Shute Dogging on Saturday Night. I don't think a kid has ever been as proud of a saddle as Tyler was of his.


Tyrel won 3 saddles. One for CHAMPION RIBBON ROPER, one for CHAMPION BREAK-AWAY ROPER, and one for ALL-AROUND SENIOR HIGH COWBOY. He also one the senior high boys highpoint for the finals weekend. He was the reserve champion heeler and the reserve champion tie-down calf roper. And I think he placed 4th in heading.

All in all, a pretty good haul for the Miles kids!