Most teenagers would leap at the opportunity to compete on the largest junior high rodeo stage possible.
Brooklynn Bell and Jace Harris aren’t most teenagers.
Bell, 14, of Rainier, and Harris, 14, of Tenino, qualified for the 2024 National Junior High Finals Rodeo but opted not to make the trip to Iowa last summer. While they both knew they earned the right to be among the nation’s best rodeo competitors, they wanted to prove it.
That’s why the two Thurston County teens worked relentlessly this season to not only qualify for nationals but to set themselves up to bring trophies back home in their final junior high seasons before moving on to the high school level. They did so by collecting champion titles at the Washington State Junior High School Rodeo Association (WSJHSRA) finals in Walla Walla on May 23.
At both the finals and the WSJHSRA year-end banquet, Bell was named the all-around champion cowgirl, the breakaway roping champion, and the goat-tying reserve champion. Harris was named the all-around champion cowboy, the tie-down roping champion and the goat-tying champion. Together, they won the year-end ribbon-roping championship.
Now, the teens are practicing at Stick Horse Arena in Tenino with the hopes of making their dreams of winning a national junior high championship come true.
“I’d like to win nationals when we go this year. I waited one more year so I could have the best chances at winning it and get a little bigger and a little stronger,” Harris said. “I have high expectations of myself.”
Harris and Bell are not complete strangers to the national stage. The two homeschooled students both competed at the Mike and Sherrylynn Johnson Vegas Tuffest Jr. World Championship in December in Las Vegas. The bright lights of Sin City prepared them for what’s to come in Des Moines, Iowa.
“It really helps with your mental game. It’s really hard going into something that big with that much pressure,” Bell said. “I feel like this time it will be a lot better having already done it before. It may be a different association, but still a big stage. It’ll be fun.”
Bell will compete in breakaway roping and goat tying, and Harris will try his hand at tie-down roping, team roping and goat tying, while the two will team up for ribbon roping. They will enter their final junior high competition with not only hopes of winning hardware but expectations of success, especially coming off of their most successful state finals trip yet.
While their minds are locked in on Iowa, the next level of competition looms for Bell and Harris. The opposition is steeper and more voluminous at the high school level, and the teens hope to use the trip to Iowa to propel themselves toward the top of the totem pole.
“You have to step up your game even more. Even if you’re at the top, you have to work even harder and push even further,” Bell said.
The rodeo world isn’t just a childhood phase for Harris and Bell to give them life skills for another career path. This is their desired career path and lifestyle, and they hope they’ve only gotten a small taste of what’s to come later in life.
“I’d like to win the National Finals Rodeo and I’d like to make this my career and do it until I can’t anymore,” Harris said.
“I want to take it all the way to pro. I want to win the breakaway world championship,” Bell added.
