Three local kids — Cade, Paige and Wyatt Cummings — will be participating in the upcoming National Junior High Finals Rodeo (NJHFR) in Des Moines, Iowa.
The event begins on Sunday, July 20 at 7 p.m. and ends on Saturday, June 26. After Sunday, events will run from 9 a.m. and 7 p.m.
Lisa Cummings, the mother of Cade and Wyatt, said 13-year-old Cade will compete in tie-down roping, team roping, ribbon roping and goat tying, and is currently scheduled to have eight different performances. She said 12-year-old Wyatt will compete in light rifle shooting. Paige, 13 and Lisa’s niece, will compete in breakaway roping, ribbon roping and team roping.
Lisa said the family is from the Marshall area and that Paige’s family lives next door to her family.
Lisa said Cade and Wyatt’s father, Clint, and grandpa, Jon, both competed in rodeos. She said Jon used to work for the 41 Cattle Company in Bainbridge working cows as well as going to rodeos.
“I think it’s a way of life,” Lisa said. “My son is obsessed with old westerns. It’s just a way of life and it’s how he’s choosing to live his life, and that’s legacy within a western legacy and heritage and we want to keep it going. I hope that their kids rope and continue what the family has started.”
She said Cade currently plans to go to college to compete in more rodeos and figure things out from there, while Wyatt wants to be a marine scientist.
“Rodeo isn’t just a sport to us, it’s our family’s way of carrying on our family’s lifestyle over the last three generations,” Heather Cummings, the mother of Paige Cummings, said. “These kids work hard every day by applying themselves to accomplish their goals and perfect their individual skills… They have the best opportunity to meet many wonderful kids from across the nation and have built and continue to build solid friendships.”
A news release from the NJHFR said there will be $80,000 in prizes, $200,000 in college scholarships, an optional jackpot available to everyone at the finals that “cares to enter” and the chance to be named an NJHFR world champion.
The release said the title is earned by first finishing in the top 20, which is based on the combined time/score in the first two rounds, which will advance the contestant to Saturday evening’s final round. It said the champion will be crowned based on the contestants’ three-round combined times/scores.
The release said the Saturday championship performance will be televised nationally as a part of the Cinch High School Rodeo Tour telecast series through RFD-TV. Live broadcasts of the NJHFR’s performances will also air on www.RidePass.com.
The NJHFR will have contestants from 44 states, five Canadian provinces, Australia, New Zealand and Mexico.
Reach Jacob Clary at 937-402-2570.
