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Cedar Valley’s Joey Dansie starts strong at high school rodeo finals, has big goals

By Jared Lloyd daily Herald - | Jun 9, 2021
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Cedar Valley senior Joey Dansie, who represents the Lehi Rodeo Club, competes in the steer wrestling in the first performance of the 2021 Utah High School Rodeo Finals at the Wasatch County Event Complex in Heber on Wednesday, June 9, 2021.

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Cedar Valley senior Joey Dansie, who represents the Lehi Rodeo Club, competes in the steer wrestling in the first performance of the 2021 Utah High School Rodeo Finals at the Wasatch County Event Complex in Heber on Wednesday, June 9, 2021.

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Kahlee Larsen, who represents the South Utah County Rodeo Club, competes in the breakaway roping in the first performance of the 2021 Utah High School Rodeo Finals at the Wasatch County Event Complex in Heber on Wednesday, June 9, 2021.

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Saydee Davis, who represents the South Utah County Rodeo Club, competes in the barrel racing in the first performance of the 2021 Utah High School Rodeo Finals at the Wasatch County Event Complex in Heber on Wednesday, June 9, 2021.

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McKardy Kelly, who represents the Wsatch Rodeo Club, competes in the barrel racing in the first performance of the 2021 Utah High School Rodeo Finals at the Wasatch County Event Complex in Heber on Wednesday, June 9, 2021.

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Hinckley Morley, who represents the South Utah County Rodeo Club, competes in the tiedown roping in the first performance of the 2021 Utah High School Rodeo Finals at the Wasatch County Event Complex in Heber on Wednesday, June 9, 2021.

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Shane Pyne and Dax Fenton, who represents the South Utah County Rodeo Club, compete in the team roping in the first performance of the 2021 Utah High School Rodeo Finals at the Wasatch County Event Complex in Heber on Wednesday, June 9, 2021.

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Dyllon Mecham, who represents the Wasatch Rodeo Club, competes in the bull riding in the first performance of the 2021 Utah High School Rodeo Finals at the Wasatch County Event Complex in Heber on Wednesday, June 9, 2021.

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Rylan Keel, who represents the Wasatch Rodeo Club, competes in the bull riding in the first performance of the 2021 Utah High School Rodeo Finals at the Wasatch County Event Complex in Heber on Wednesday, June 9, 2021.

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Cooper Jacobs, who represents the Juab Rodeo Club, competes in the bull riding in the first performance of the 2021 Utah High School Rodeo Finals at the Wasatch County Event Complex in Heber on Wednesday, June 9, 2021.

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Jayden Allinson, who represents the South Utah County Rodeo Club, competes in the bull riding in the first performance of the 2021 Utah High School Rodeo Finals at the Wasatch County Event Complex in Heber on Wednesday, June 9, 2021.

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Hallie Bennett, who represents the South Utah County Rodeo Club, competes in the bull riding in the first performance of the 2021 Utah High School Rodeo Finals at the Wasatch County Event Complex in Heber on Wednesday, June 9, 2021.

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Kadence Martin, who represents the Spikers Rodeo Club, competes in the breakaway roping in the first performance of the 2021 Utah High School Rodeo Finals at the Wasatch County Event Complex in Heber on Wednesday, June 9, 2021.

Just about everyone has lost their footwear at some point, whether it is having a sandal slip off at the beach or an untied shoelace result in dropping a sneaker.

When recent Cedar Valley grad Joey Dansie nearly lost a boot on Wednesday morning, it could’ve had some significant consequences.

Dansie competes for the Lehi Rodeo Club and was getting things started at the 2021 Utah High School Rodeo Finals in Heber in the steer wrestling. He has been one of the top cowboys in the state this year but reaching some of his biggest goals comes down to what happens this week.

So when his horse Roy shot out of the shoot and he went to grab the steer, he found himself in a precarious spot.

“My boot almost fell off,” Dansie said. “I wanted to be a lot faster but right when I was getting off, I caught him but my foot was still in the stirrup. I was like, ‘oh, man, this is not good.’ I started sliding and I could feel my boot sliding off. I was hoping it either came all the way off or went all the way back on when I hit the ground.”

While Dansie was able to get his boot to stay on, it threw off his timing.

“My foot got caught behind me and I went down,” Dansie said. “I had to circle him again to throw him. But I got the run down.”

Dansie’s time of 9.26 seconds was good enough to be the top mark in the performance but he has his sights set on proving to be the best all-around cowboy this year.

Coming into the finals, Dansie was just 13 points behind Kade Madsen of the Spikers in the all-around competitions (297-284), so a lot will depend on what happens in the next few days.

“That’s the goal,” Dansie said. “It would be nice.”

He credited his family — which has an impressive rodeo pedigree — for helping him develop the various skills needed to compete in the all-around competition.

“My dad has always went through the stock and I’ve always looked up to my brother Leroy,” Dansie said. “He’s been a good bull-dogger. My dad has also always been a big role model. When I was first calf-tying and breakaway roping and goat-tying and stuff, my sister really helped me out. You just kind of learn more.”

He said he added bareback riding to his repertoire just this year and found it to be a new challenge.

“It’s really rough at first,” Dansie said. “Once you kind of learn how to spur, it’s good. Bareback riding is kind of like a fight. You’ve got to give everything you’ve got. You know you are going to get hit, know you are going to get hurt a little bit. But it’s fun now.”

Even though his siblings (he has six of them) have been successful, Dansie said he hasn’t felt the need to live up to what other family members have done.

“I’ve never had a lot of pressure on me,” Dansie said. “My dad’s never really pressuring me to feel that. But my brother was an example. Every time he did something, did the best he could, it just kind of lit a fire under me to do the best I can.”

In addition to his efforts in the arena, Dansie also took on the role of being the 2020-21 secretary for the student leadership team.

“You really see like what’s going on behind the scenes out there, how rules and things are going,” Dansie said. “There are a lot of meetings but you kind of learn what’s going on, like how rodeo really works. It’s really a good thing to be involved in.”

Dansie hopes to do well enough to earn a spot on the Utah team that will compete at the national high school rodeo finals, which will take place in Lincoln, Nebraska, in mid-July. After that he plans to serve a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and then continue competing in rodeo in college.

His focus right now, however, is to be at his best this week as he competes in steer wrestling, bareback bronc riding, bull riding, team roping and calf roping.

The high school rodeo finals will continue with morning and afternoon performance on Thursday and Friday before the short-go on Saturday afternoon. All events will take place at the Wasatch County Event Complex in Heber.

For more details, go to http://UHSRA.org.

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