A special legacy: Timpanogos junior Aubrie Christensen honors family by winning high school rodeo queen competition
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- Timpanogos junior Aubrie Christensen rides into the arena before the fifth performance of the Utah State High School Rodeo Finals at the Wasatch County Events Complex in Heber on Friday, June 7, 2024. Christensen won the queen competition.
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- Timpanogos junior Aubrie Christensen poses for a photo holding the state finals program at the Wasatch County Events Complex in Heber on Thursday, June 6, 2024. The cover she drew honors her aunt, Dawn Christensen, who died in an accident after a rodeo in 1995.
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- Morgan Beckstrom of the South Utah County club smiles as she sees her time in the barrel racing competition at the Utah State High School Rodeo Finals at the Wasatch County Events Complex in Heber on Friday, June 7, 2024.
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- Braxton Richman of the Wasatch club competes in the bull riding competition at the Utah State High School Rodeo Finals at the Wasatch County Events Complex in Heber on Friday, June 7, 2024.
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- Houston Bennett of the Lehi club loses his hat as he competes in the steer wrestling competition at the Utah State High School Rodeo Finals at the Wasatch County Events Complex in Heber on Friday, June 7, 2024.
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- Timpanogos junior Aubrie Christensen (left) pats her horse Frosty as part of the opening ceremonies before the fifth performance of the Utah State High School Rodeo Finals at the Wasatch County Events Complex in Heber on Friday, June 7, 2024. Christensen won the queen competition.
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- Timpanogos junior Aubrie Christensen poses for a photo at the Wasatch County Events Complex in Heber on Thursday, June 6, 2024. Christensen won the queen competition.
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- Timpanogos junior Aubrie Christensen poses for a photo at the Wasatch County Events Complex in Heber on Thursday, June 6, 2024. Christensen won the queen competition.
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- Westin Simpson of the Wasatch club competes in the bull riding competition at the Utah State High School Rodeo Finals at the Wasatch County Events Complex in Heber on Friday, June 7, 2024.
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- Westin Simpson of the Wasatch club (left) gets congratulated after a successful ride in the bull riding competition at the Utah State High School Rodeo Finals at the Wasatch County Events Complex in Heber on Friday, June 7, 2024.
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- Morgan Beckstrom of the South Utah County club competes in the barrel racing competition at the Utah State High School Rodeo Finals at the Wasatch County Events Complex in Heber on Friday, June 7, 2024.
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- Morgan Beckstrom of the South Utah County club competes in the barrel racing competition at the Utah State High School Rodeo Finals at the Wasatch County Events Complex in Heber on Friday, June 7, 2024.
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- Morgan Beckstrom of the South Utah County club competes in the barrel racing competition at the Utah State High School Rodeo Finals at the Wasatch County Events Complex in Heber on Friday, June 7, 2024.
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- Braxton Farnsworth of the Uintah Basin club gets bucked off as he competes in the bull riding competition at the Utah State High School Rodeo Finals at the Wasatch County Events Complex in Heber on Friday, June 7, 2024.
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- Ace Austin of the South Utah County club competes in the tiedown roping competition at the Utah State High School Rodeo Finals at the Wasatch County Events Complex in Heber on Friday, June 7, 2024.
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- Randy Johnson of the South Utah County club (left) and Gentry Goza of the Uintah Basin club compete in the team roping competition at the Utah State High School Rodeo Finals at the Wasatch County Events Complex in Heber on Friday, June 7, 2024.
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- Lamerrill Winters of the Lehi club has his hat flies off as he competes in the bareback riding competition at the Utah State High School Rodeo Finals at the Wasatch County Events Complex in Heber on Friday, June 7, 2024.
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- Chezni Nelson of the South Utah County club competes in the breakaway roping competition at the Utah State High School Rodeo Finals at the Wasatch County Events Complex in Heber on Friday, June 7, 2024.
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- Ace Austin of the South Utah County club competes in the steer wrestling competition at the Utah State High School Rodeo Finals at the Wasatch County Events Complex in Heber on Friday, June 7, 2024.
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- Seniors ride into the arena to be recognized before the fifth performance of the Utah State High School Rodeo Finals at the Wasatch County Events Complex in Heber on Friday, June 7, 2024. Christensen won the queen competition.
Many of the attendees at the 2024 Utah State High School Rodeo Finals at the Wasatch County Events Complex in Heber this week purchased the souvenir program, an excellent printed magazine put together by Gentry Stokes and Tana Bennett filled with photos, bios, heat sheets and other information.
This year’s cover, however, had special meaning for Timpanogos junior Aubrie Christensen and her family.
It featured a collage she drew honoring her aunt, Dawn Christensen, a former rodeo queen who died in the mid-1990s in a tragic accident after a rodeo.
“This collage honors my aunt’s high school rodeo days in the 90s,” the caption quote on the program says. “She passed away at 17, but her winning spirit has lived on in our family ever since.”
Aubrie Christensen’s story, however, goes beyond just the beautiful tribute.
Over the last few years, she started following a similar path to the one her aunt was on, competing in rodeo queen competitions.
“I did my first junior queen pageant when I was 14 at Lindon Days,” Aubrie Christensen said in an interview on Thursday. “That was where I got my taste of rodeo queening and I haven’t stopped since. I got a late start compared to many of the girls but it’s really fun and I’ve made a lot of friends along the way. It’s just provided me so many great opportunities and really brought me out of my shell.”
She explained that the queen competition includes multiple categories, including an interview, a speech, modeling, a 50-question test on rodeo rules and horsemanship.
“I’ve put in a lot of hard work with my horse Frosty,” Aubrie Christensen said. “You do reining patterns in these competitions to show your horsemanship and your horse’s skills.”
She did well during the season, gaining confidence with each competition. Her first queen competition victory came at a rodeo in Delta, which had special significance.
“My aunt passed away when she was coming home from a rodeo in Delta,” she said. “My grandparents hadn’t been back to Delta since then. So me winning my first queen title there was able to ease that hurt and just create good memories around that area. She was 17 then and I’m 17 now.”
The final remarkable connection to her aunt occurred just this week when the Timberwolf junior competed in the queen competition at the state finals.
“I was actually blown away because this year for high school rodeo it was the closest you could get to a three-way tie,” she said. “I was sitting third going into state so I had no idea how it was going to go. I was just happy wherever I placed. I was just proud of my work and how much I’ve gotten help over the year. But I looked at my family as they announced ‘Aubrey Christiansen’ as the winner and everyone was so shocked. I’m so honored to represent this title.”
For the next year, Aubrie Christensen will represent Utah high school rodeo as an ambassador — something she had gotten used to doing at her own high school at Timpanogos.
“It’s crazy because I’m the only girl who competes in high school rodeo in my entire school,” she said. “I’ve had opportunities to educate my teachers and my peers about what I do as a rodeo queen and my other events like breakaway roping and barrel racing. I’ve had people say, ‘oh, that’s so cool. Do you ride bulls in your dress?’ And I’m like, ‘not quite.’ It’s just been a really neat experience to do that.”
She said she is looking forward to all of the opportunities and growth that being the state rodeo queen will bring.
“It’s a really great opportunity for me,” Aubrie Christensen said. “It’s something that I’ve had to learn because just a couple years ago, it was hard for me to talk to people. I’ve had to learn how to talk to people and talk about what I love, but it’s easy because I do love the sport of rodeo and I’m passionate about it. I want to educate people and show what a cool sport it is.”
Her message to those that aren’t familiar with rodeo is how much those involved love the community and their animals.
“We’re such a great community,” she said. “Everyone helps each other. I’ve had a few friends that just recently joined rodeo and started competing with their horses. They’ve been competing in other sports and they’re like, ‘I have never had competitors help me before. In rodeo, they’ll lend you a horse. They’ll lend you a saddle. They’ll do whatever they can if you need help.’ It’s just a really great community.”
While she feels a mixture of excitement with a little apprehension as she embarks on her year as rodeo queen, she feels a strong connection to the family legacy. She said that to have her art on the cover of the program and win the queen competition in the same year is a “really neat tribute” to her aunt.
Utah Valley-area athletes excel in fifth performance
Friday morning’s performance provided a number of highlights for Utah Valley-area cowboys and cowgirls.
Leading the way was Spanish Fork senior Morgan Beckstrom, who was the first barrel racer to compete a run under 16 seconds. Her time of 15.758 seconds might be the best of her incredible career.
But she was joined by a host of other performance winners from the region. Her South Utah County club also had the winning breakaway roper in Chezni Nelson (2.51 seconds), the top pole-bending performance from Kajun Watterson (19.995 seconds), the winning tiedown roper in Ace Austin (8.65 seconds) and a winning team roper in Randy Johnson who joined with Uintah Basin’s Gentry Goza to get first (7.48 seconds).
In additions, the Lehi club’s Lamerrill Winters won the bareback riding (71 points) and Wasatch’s Westin Simpson won the bull riding (78).
After the sixth performance on Friday evening (which finished after the Daily Herald’s print deadline), the competition will conclude with the short-go performance on Saturday morning at 11 a.m. with the awards presentation taking place afterwards. All performances will take place at the Wasatch County Events Complex in Heber.
For complete results and details, go to http://UHSRA.org.
