Boldon wins all-around title at region rodeo

Custer High School junior-to-be Breezy Boldon was the overall high-scorer at the South Dakota High School Rodeo Southwest Region June 12-13 in Sturgis, winning the all-around title and putting herself in good position for the South Dakota High School Rodeo Association State Finals in Belle Fourche this weekend.

Boldon competed in breakaway roping, pole bending, goat tying and barrel racing, winning the breakaway and pole bending buckles, while finishing third in the goat tying average and winning high points on the timed events. The winners are determined by taking the averages from her first and second go-around.

“I was actually pretty surprised,” Boldon said of her performance at the rodeo. “It was kind of muddy, and the weather was bad. I was just thinking ‘try my best in each event and try to make a clean run.’”

Make clean runs she did, which greatly aided her winning the pole bending event. Going into the second day, she was trailing four other girls, but some ended up tipping their pole over, allowing her to sneak in and win the event.

“I kind of lucked out on that, but I was still proud of it,” she said.

Pole bending has been somewhat of a bread-and-butter event for Boldon, as she placed third at the state rodeo meet a year ago in the event. That qualified her for the national meet, which was held in Farmington, N.M.

The high school rodeo season is a short one, which officially begins the first weekend in June, although there are “warm up” rodeos prior to that. However, because of Boldon’s participation in track, she wasn’t able to get in much practice.

Boldon participated in the Wall rodeo the first weekend in June, and had already qualified for state based on her performance there. However, she was disappointed in her performance in breakaway roping in Wall, and made that the focus of her practice prior to the Sturgis rodeo. The end result was her being the only cowgirl to rope both of her calves during the rodeo.

Boldon, who has been participating in rodeos since she was 5 years old, will compete in all four of the same events she competed in at the Sturgis rodeo and the state rodeo. If she continues to perform well, she said he feels she has a solid chance to place, especially in breakaway.

“I’m just going to try to do the best I can in all my events,” she said. “I’m going to keep practicing so I’m able to perform my best at state.”