Cody White will compete in bareback and saddle bronc riding at the National High School Rodeo championships in Wyoming.
Twisp native in two events
Cody White, who recently turned 18, and even more recently graduated from Liberty Bell High School, is headed for the National High School Rodeo Association’s National Championships in Gillette, Wyoming, next week.
After qualifying as the No. 1-ranked saddle bronc rider and No. 2 bareback bronc rider on 2021-22 Washington High School Rodeo circuit, he heads off to Wyoming in search of a national title in perhaps his last appearance as an amateur rider.
The National High School Championships are actually an international affair, with contestants from all 50 U.S. states, the 13 Canadian provinces and from south of the border in Mexico. It serves as a de facto World Championship for the under-18 age classification as, according to White, there are no other countries that actually count rodeo as among their competitive sports.
White warmed up for the Nationals by making a trip to Winnemucca, Nevada, last week to take part in an invitational rodeo event for riders who didn’t qualify for Nationals, where he rode the bull “mostly because I didn’t qualify for Nationals in bull riding, so I wanted to see how I could do there,” said the Twisp native.
How did that go for him? “About the same,” he sighed, and then chuckled. “I fell.”
It’s a return trip to Nationals for White, after qualifying in bareback and bull riding at last year’s National Rodeo held in Lincoln, Nebraska. He made it to the finals in both events, but did not make the championship rounds in either.
The National High School Rodeo gets underway this Sunday (July 17) at the Cam-Plex Event Center, continuing through July 23. White is scheduled to ride in the long show (preliminary rounds) on Tuesday in the saddle bronc competition and Wednesday in the bareback event.
The finals are scheduled for July 23. Most of the rodeo will be streamed on the Cowboy Channel Plus. A special access pass is required from Cowboy Channel and costs $19.99 for access to the stream: www.cowboychannelplus.com.
