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Rodeo notes
Journal sportswriters
POCATELLO - Kyle Alder and Colton Smith saw the numbers stop at 7.22 on the timer, and they knew they'd won themselves a state team roping title on Saturday at the Bannock County Fairgrounds. But Alder knew something else, too. He knew his father would have loved to see them do it.
''He would've been smiling his head off,'' Alder said, one day before Father's Day. ''It was hard, though. It was hard - to win it and turn around and see my dad's not there.'' Alder's father died suddenly of brain cancer in August, and just like that, the man who taught Kyle to rope was gone. But Alder found solace in the sport they once shared, and this week he and Smith turned in three sub-9-second times to dominate the Idaho High School Finals Rodeo.
Alder rode with a picture of his father on his bib number card, as did Smith. ''I just felt like he was there with me,'' Alder said. ''I used a lot of his stuff, like his saddle, and that made me feel a lot better.''
Best on the bulls Montana Barlow stayed on his bull in all three of his performances throughout the week, and in the end, that consistency was good enough to capture the state championship in the event.
He entered the finals with the third-best combined score from the first two go-rounds, but when the cowboys ahead of him didn't record a qualifying ride Saturday, Barlow, a junior from Jerome, walked away with the title. ''It was just good draws, and I was ready to ride,'' he said. ''Everything went well.''
Malad's Riker Carter was one of three cowboys to record a score in the finals. His 69-point effort boosted the sophomore into fourth place, which comes with a berth in the national high school finals. ''It just shows that you don't have to be a bigger, older guy to to it,'' Carter said.
Just happy to be moving on It wasn't at all how Chuck Povey drew it up, but she'll take it.
After knocking over three poles and stumbling in goat tying, Povey rebounded with a 3.64-second time in breakaway roping to clinch a second-place overall finish in the event and her first trip to nationals. Povey won the District 8 all-around title, but breakaway wasn't her specialty. She finished third in breakaway during the district season, and if she expected to go to nationals at all, it was in goat tying, in which she won a district title.
''I'm going to nationals in breakaway, and I never thought it'd be breakaway. Ever,'' she said. ''I'm still shocked I'm even going. It hasn't hit me yet.'' Povey - whose given first name is Chelsie - competed in the finals in all four of her events and finished fourth in the all-around standings with 85.5 points. On everyone's minds The morning after Chase Haight had to be taken by Life Flight to Idaho Falls following an accident to open up the night session Friday, the District 3 cowboy's presence lingered throughout the Bannock County Fairgrounds. Haight's serious injuries occurred during the open flag procession when his horse flipped upside down and landed on him. On Saturday, organizers kept the customary procession on the day's schedule but had participants go at a walk with their horses rather than the usual sprint. When Haight's District 3 comrades took their turn, they stopped in the middle of the ring and said an extra prayer for Haight and his family. The photo stand on the rodeo grounds set up a fund drive for Haight, and the rodeo queens earmarked part of the proceeds of the day's T-shirt sales for the Haight family. As of Saturday night, Haight remained in critical but stable condition at the Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center in Idaho Falls. By Dan Thompson and Tim Flagstad
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