The people of Shawnee, Okla., might want to get used to seeing recent Emporia High graduate Lindsey Hollond.
After all, her face will be one of several featured on a billboard in the city of about 30,000 after she won the pole bending event at the International Finals Youth Rodeo this past weekend.
Hollond came away with the top average time after three rounds at the IFYR, the largest youth rodeo in the nation. Hollond’s average time was .7 seconds faster than the runner-up, placing her first out of about 150 riders.
“When I came across the line in the short round and saw my time was fast enough to win, it was so exciting,” said Hollond, who finished second as a sophomore in 2005. “I cried when I got out of the arena. I don’t cry that much, but I did then. It was an awesome feeling.”
For her win, Hollond, along with the other event winners, won a saddle, a belt buckle, a $3,500 scholarship prize and a spot on Team Cool Girl. The Team Cool Girl position means she will receive a pair of jeans and a shirt each month for a yea. Plus, she goes up on that billboard with all the other winners sporting Team Cool Girl gear.
“That’ll be pretty fun to see that,” Hollond said of her spot on the billboard.
Hollond went into the short round on Saturday in the lead in average time after finishing fifth in the first round and third in the second. The top 15 move on to the short round, where the winners are decided.
Because she was the leader heading into the short round, Hollond was the final rider of the day.
The pressure intensified when the announcer told the crowd that the girl that went just before Hollond had taken over the lead seconds before Hollond was set to start her final run.
“I usually don’t hear them announcing the times,” Hollond said. “But they told everyone that the girl before me had taken over the average, and then, they told the crowd the time I had to beat to win the whole thing.”
Though she was no longer in the lead, all Hollond had to do was have a clean run and not knock over any poles, and the victory was assuredly hers.
When it was her time to go, Hollond made a clean first pass through the poles, but on the way back, Hollond ran into trouble when she said she “tipped a pole harder than I ever have in my life.”
With the crowd cheering behind her, Hollond finished out her run. Only then did she look back to see the pole she had tipped.
It was still standing. Wobbling hard, but still standing.
“I really thought I had knocked it over,” she said. “The only way I knew I hadn’t was because I heard the crowd, but that pole that I tipped was still wiggling when I finished.”
The pole stayed standing, giving Hollond the title.
“It was really nice to finally win,” she said. “I’ve been close every year I’ve been there, but I always seemed to hit poles in at least one round.
“To get through it and not knock over any poles was amazing.”
Next up, Hollond is set to leave on Friday for the National Youth Rodeo in Springfield, Ill., next week, where she will compete in goat tying, barrel racing and pole bending.
“This is where the best of the best come to compete,” Hollond said. “It should be fun.”