Hollond earns top all-around honor
EHS graduate punches ticket to Nationals in 3 events
By The Emporia Gazette (Contact)
Monday, June 11, 2007
By Sunday afternoon, Emporia’s Lindsey Hollond had her hands quite full.
The recent Emporia High graduate came out as the top all-around performer for the year after her showing at the Kansas High School Rodeo Association State championships in Topeka this weekend, which included a first-place finish in pole bending, a third-place finish in goats and a third-place finish in barrels in the year-end standings, earning her the all-around title by nearly 300 points.
To cap it all off, her horse, Dandy, won horse of the year honors as well.
For her efforts over the weekend, Hollond earned seven new belt buckles, two new saddles and $800 in college scholarships. In addition, she earned herself a spot at the National Rodeo Championships in Springfield, Ill., in all three events.
“I had a really consistent weekend,” Hollond said. “You have to have some really good runs. Firsts will give you a lot of all-around points.”
In the first round on Friday, Hollond won in poles and took third in barrels, but “didn’t do very well” in goats. On Saturday, she again won the poles competition, and came back with a first-place showing in goats to go with a fifth-place showing in barrels.
That set her up for Sunday’s short round, where she went in with the top average in poles, second in average in goats and third in average in barrels.
She completed the three-peat in the pole competition by winning the event in the short round and took sixth in barrels. Hollond’s victory in pole bending gave her a margin of victory of nearly 100 points over the second-place finisher.
Combined with her third-place finishes in goats and barrels, Hollond earned her way to Nationals in all three events. The top four placers make it to Nationals.
“I’m really excited,” she said. “It’s obviously something I’ve never done. I’ll have a really busy week at Nationals, but I’m really happy that that’s how it ended up.”
Several other area cowboys and cowgirls competed at the State competition along with Hollond. Josie Wamser of Allen made it to Sunday’s short round in barrels and place sixth overall and fifth for the year in the event. Taylor Hollond made it to the short round in goats and ended the competition in 11th. Jake Miller of Emporia teamed with Jaime Ecton of Gridley in the team roping competition, where they finished seventh in Saturday’s round.
Cheyenne Veatch placed fourth in poles in Saturday’s round and earned a spot in Sunday’s short round in barrels, where she placed fifth. For the season, Veatch finished 17th overall in poles and 14th in barrels. Jessica Miller finished ninth in poles during Saturday’s round.
Final results were not available at press time. Other area athletes who went to the State competition were: Kellie Farr, August Stueve, Jacob Miller and Samantha Wilkerson.