MT. PLEASANT — Last Saturday hundreds of trucks pulling horse trailers converged on Mt. Pleasant for the Utah High School Rodeo Association competition. Athletes and their horses came from all over the state to participate at the ConToy Arena on the south end of town.

There are 10 different scheduled events which cowboys and cowgirls from all over the state of Utah come to participate in and the event is an exciting one to watch.

Events like cutting, barrel racing, and bull riding, just to name a few are constantly going on, stirring up the dust and adrenaline in the arena. Proud parents and siblings look on as the athletes participate and cheer at the top of their lungs.

The stop in Mt. Pleasant was sponsored by Wasatch Academy and there were several local participants that did well. Jaden Tree, a Wasatch Academy junior, competed in the Boys Cutting event and made good use of his hometown, placing first with a score of 72.0 points according to the judges.

Tree is in eighth place in the all-around, the highest of any of the local cowboys. Jaden also participated in tie-down roping and finished with a time of 23.750, taking 28th out of 103 entrants.

Savannah Allred, a junior at North Sanpete, has been near the top of the leader board all year in Girls Cutting, and this weekend was no exception. The young lady from Fountain Green finished in second place, and is in third overall for the season.

Annie Okleberry from Wasatch Academy had a good run in breakaway roping but her animal didn’t quite cooperate, leaving Annie with no score. Pole Bending went much better for Okleberry as she finished just out of the top 10 with a time of 21.774.

Teammate Claire Waldorp, entered the barrel racing and crossed the line with a time of 16.617 seconds, placing her in 46th place out of 132 participants, and finished 21st in Pole Bending with a 22.141 time. There were 116 pole benders entered.

While Colton Humphries didn’t compete on Saturday, the North Sanpete senior is one of the premier bull riders on the high school circuit. He is in fifth place overall in the state.