Bailey McCracken makes a barrel run at the National High School Finals Rodeo. The rodeo was held July 14-20, 2023, in Gillette, Wyoming.

Grant County has a world-class barrel racer.

Bailey McCracken, of John Day, headed out to the National High School Finals Rodeo in Gillette, Wyoming, July 14-20 and finished 25th out of 195 competitors from all around the United States, Canada, Mexico and beyond.

McCracken’s 25th-place barrel racing finish was Oregon’s highest in the event during the 2023 National High School Finals Rodeo. It was also second-best in all the Pacific Northwest, topped only by Kayser Kane of Wilson Creek, Washington’s, 12th-place performance.

The rodeo is truly a worldwide event, with competitors from as far away as Australia, which makes McCracken, a 17-year-old incoming senior at Grant Union High School, one of the best high school barrel racers on the planet. McCracken, however, hasn’t really looked at her finish from a global perspective.

“I kinda just think, ‘Oh, I’m 25th in the high school rodeo,’ I don’t really think about it as the world that much,” she said.

Preparation for the rodeo largely comprised practice runs when she was able to do them and ensuring that her horse was in top condition, according to McCracken.

“I would go to barrel races, like, once a week before to practice, but I don’t really practice at home — I just ride my horse to keep her in shape,” she said.

Before a race, a myriad of thoughts about what can happen — both good and bad — rush through McCracken’s mind. When the race is over, if everything has gone right, McCracken doesn’t just know she’s had a good run, she can feel it.

“They just feel right and they just feel fast,” she said.

At the finals, McCracken said, she could tell that her first run “wasn’t very good” but her second run felt like it might be good enough to put her fairly high in the standings. McCracken was one of only two Grant County competitors at the National High School Finals Rodeo — the other was Rowdy Israel, who participated in the queen competition — but she did see some familiar faces once she touched down in Gillette.

“I knew a few because we’ve been to the same places before, like the nationals in Vegas,” she said. “I’ve been to a few (rodeos) that some of them were at and just races around here that I’ve seen some of the Idaho kids at and some of the Utah kids at.”

Along with McCracken on her journey to the National High School Finals Rodeo was her mother, Didgette, whose reaction to daughter’s finish was one of elation.

“She was really happy for me and excited,” Bailey said.

So what’s next for McCracken and how long will her barrel racing career continue? If she has her way, she’ll continue running the barrels all the way up to the professional level.

“I think it would be cool to go professional, but that won’t be what I’ll rely on — I’ll try to find a steady job, then also barrel race,” she said. “If I can go professional, then I would.”