Sam McCracken competes at a high school rodeo in 2021. McCracken won a third consecutive state cutting championship at the Oregon High School Rodeo State Finals in Prineville, held Wednesday-Saturday, June 8-11, 2022.

PRINEVILLE — Grant County high school athletes brought home state titles in multiple events from the Oregon High School Rodeo State Finals, with two of them qualifying for next month’s national competition.

Sam McCracken, a recent Grant Union graduate, won his third consecutive Oregon high school cutting championship while riding his horse Casino in the state finals, held Wednesday-Saturday, June 8-11, in Prineville. Cutting is an event where a horse and rider work together to showcase the horse’s ability to drive cattle from a herd to the center of the arena. Additionally, McCracken picked up a third-place finish in reined cowhorse.

Both titles qualified McCracken to move on to the National High School Rodeo Final for a fourth straight year. This year’s competition will be held July 17-23 in Gillette, Wyoming.

McCracken said that heading into the state final ranked first in cutting brought significant pressure.

“It’s hard to go in No. 1,” he said. “I think it’s harder to keep your spot than it is to move up.”

This year’s state final was the most challenging for him, he added.

“Just being a senior,” he said. “I had a lot of stuff going on.”

McCracken, who will attend the University of Montana Western to study natural horsemanship management this fall, earned scholarships from the Oregon High School Rodeo Association and a Bowerman Scholarship. The scholarship process was competitive and McCracken was one of just over 20 seniors vying for the rodeo association scholarship.

McCracken’s sister, Grant Union junior Bailey McCracken, placed fourth in barrel racing and seventh in pole bending in the first round to finish in the top 10 and advance to the short go-round in both events.

In the short go-round she placed second in pole bending, finishing fourth overall in pole bending, a timed event where the rider runs a horse in a weaving pattern around six poles, and seventh in barrel racing. She will join her brother at the national finals next month.

Given that this was her second year competing at the state finals, she said she felt like she knew what to expect going in.

Other Grant County high school students made strong showings at the state finals.

Prairie City High School’s Sarah Clark, a junior, made her first appearance at the state competition in pole bending. Unfortunately, Clark knocked over a pole in the first round, resulting in a violation. However, in the second go-round, she returned to finish seventh riding her horse Maizey.

Jack Strong, a Grant Union senior, finished seventh overall in bull riding at the Oregon High School Rodeo State Finals. After getting bucked off in the first two rounds in both bull and bronc riding, Strong came back in the short go-round in bull riding to ride an injured rider’s bull and scored a 66. The score propelled him to third in the short go, fourth in the state average and seventh in bull riding.

Rowdy Israel, a home-school student from Dayville who will be a junior, was crowned Oregon High School Rodeo Association queen. Israel carried the flag at the short go on Saturday, June 11, and sponsor flags for each winner’s victory lap.