ALAMOSA – A recent Mountain Valley High School graduate, Klayt Staudt of Saguache, will head to the National High School Finals Rodeo with some momentum after winning the Colorado High School Rodeo Association boys all-around championship.
The NHSFR will take place next week at the Sweetwater Events Center in Rock Springs, Wyo., beginning on Sunday. It will conclude on July 20.
Staudt won the title after scoring 426 total points.
“It was a pretty good season,” Staudt said. “I had some ups and downs.”
Staudt qualified for the nationals in three events, two of which he will compete at the big event.
He will compete in team roping and boys cutting.
He will be the heeler on his team in which he will pair up with Rett Coors of Loveland. They finished fourth in the event with 81 points.
“The team roping season was pretty good,” Stoudt said. “I made a few mistakes I shouldn’t have, but it was pretty good.”
The unofficial draw for the NHSFR was released earlier this week. Stoudt and Coors will have two runs, with the first taking place on July 16 in the morning session, and the second occurring on July 18 in the evening.
Staudt was third in the state in boys cutting with 126 points. Both of his runs will be on July 17 with the first being in the morning and the second in the afternoon.
“The season was good,” Staudt said. “I did my job and the horse was good.”
Staudt also qualified for the NHSFR in the reined cow horse after finishing fourth in the state with 102 ½ points. However, he decided not to compete in the event.
“I decided not to go in that one,” Staudt said. “I just didn’t feel like I was better in that event compared to the national level. My horse wasn’t quite able to do it.”
Staudt has a family history in rodeo. His older brother, Jase, competes in the PRCA’s Mountain States Circuit and is having a successful season.
The Stoudts occasionally compete together in team roping on the PRCA level. Last month, they were at the Alamosa Round-UP.
“Sometimes I compete in a few rodeos,” Stoudt said. “I didn’t have time because I had high school rodeo.”
Staudt’s plans for the future is to continue to work on his family’s ranch and to continue to compete in rodeo.
Three more locals advance to NHSFR
In addition to Staudt, three more local competitors have qualified for the nationals.
The list includes another performer from Sagauche in Rivers Hill. She will compete in barrel racing after placing second in the state with 84 points.
Both of her runs will be on July 17. The first will be in the morning and the second in the evening.
She also finished high in the girls all-around standings placing seventh with 241 ½ points.
Two menbers of Sanford’s Sittler family also qualified.
Ben Sittler qualified in bull riding. He placed third in the state with 47 points. His runs will occur on July 16 in the morning and on July 18 in the evening.
Alex Sittler qualified in the two shooting events. He finished third in the state in the trap shoot with 48 points, and he was fourth in the rifle shoot with 93 points.
The rifle shoot will take place on the morning of July 16 at the Green River Shooting Range. The finals will be the following morning.
The trap shoot occurs on the morning of July 18 at the Sweetwater Trap Club. The championship round is the morning of July 19.
The Top 15 after two runs in each rodeo event will return for the short go in the evening of July 20.
