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Lehi’s Shaylee Thacker will only be a junior in high school in the fall but she’s already filling up her high school rodeo trophy case.

As the 2011 Utah High School State Rodeo Finals came to a close Saturday night in Heber City, Thacker wrapped up another state championship in pole bending, her second straight title.

Since she also won a spot on the Utah team that will compete at the high school national rodeo in Wyoming in July in breakaway roping, she was the runaway winner of the girls all-around title as well – which is also her second straight.

“It feels great to go out and win it again,” Thacker said. “I was able to keep doing well this year and I kept my confidence up. It’s kind of crazy.”

While Shaylee Thacker was the star of the rodeo season, Saturday night’s finals belonged to her brother Travis and her friend Brinkley Phillips.

Travis Thacker, a recently graduated senior, closed out his Utah high school rodeo experience by winning the tiedown roping contest and in doing so secured a spot on the state team.

“It’s always fun to be on top,” Travis Thacker said. “It’s my last state finals so it feels great. I just kept focused and everything went to plan.”

Shaylee was thrilled to have her brother joining her at nationals.

“I’m so pumped that my brother made it,” she said. “I’m ecstatic. Last year I was the youngest one who went but this year I have a lot of friends going so it’s going to be fun.”

Also joining the Thackers will be Phillips, who will be a senior in the fall. Phillips was able to come through in the pole bending event Saturday to get first place.

“I started crying,” Phillips said about her reaction when she found out she had won. “It was the best feeling ever. This is a drug, an addiction, and you just want to do so well.”

Phillips said the biggest key to victory was to get past the pressure and let her horse Boston do her thing.

“I just wanted to keep it clean,” she explained. “I wanted to put in ear plugs so I couldn’t hear anyone. I pushed her but I put hitting a pole out of my mind. Then I just had to stay up with my horse. If we go slow, it’s all me.”

Although Shaylee Thacker has been the dominant force in the event, Phillips said it’s more about helping out her Lehi teammate than a rivalry.

“I always wish her the best,” Phillips said. “I’m proud of her and thankful for her dad, who always walks my horse in.”

Phillips is the only rodeo star in her family, but she said that families like the Thackers and others have helped her out and taken her into the rodeo fraternity.

Now those three join six other local cowboys and cowgirls that will be representing the state at nationals. No one, however, will be facing the pressure that Shaylee Thacker will as she tries to match or beat her second-place finish from last year in the breakaway roping.

“There’s a lot of pressure,” she said. “It will take a lot of practice and I can’t play mind games with myself. I’ll just go do my best.”

The Thackers, Phillips and the other local rodeo stars will get the chance to shine on the national stage in Wyoming in July.

 

 

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