Two Oakdale High School rodeo stars made the trip to Gillette, Wyoming recently for the 75th annual National High School Finals Rodeo. The weeklong event took place in mid- to late July. Ryan Wells and Eli Green participated in the tie-down roping.

Wells’ first go round landed him with a time of 17.81 and placed him 77th in the round. In the second go round, he bettered his time by nearly four seconds (14.3) and placed 63rd. Unfortunately, those marks did not qualify him for the finals. Green only roped once and finished at 14.38 in the second go round and placed 65th overall in that round.

The event was telecast on RFD-TV as well as online. Nearly 2,000 young athletes competed in the rodeo. Other events included barrel racing, bareback riding, boys cutting, breakaway roping, bull riding, girls cutting, goat tying, pole bending, reined cow horse, steer wrestling, saddle bronc and team roping.