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Skocdopole scores provincial poles title

‘It was just a really good weekend,’ says Big Valley cowgirl.
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Hope Skocdopole

Hope Skocdopole was sitting pretty as she entered the Alberta High School Rodeo Association finals last weekend at Ponoka.

The Big Valley cowgirl was second in poles in the season standings, and she complemented that position with a consistent performance through three rounds of the provincials on the Ponoka Stampede grounds.

When the dust settled Sunday, she was not only the average winner, but also the provincial champion.

“It feels really good,” said Skocdopole, 16.

“I went in (ranked) second from the season. I just knew that, because I was coming in with more points, I just had to keep the poles up and I would be good.

“I had three good rounds, and I just kept all my poles up. I wasn’t the fastest every day, but I kept them up and I won the average and I was the provincial champion.”

There’s more in store for Skocdopole and other top finishers from the provincials. They qualify for the National High School Rodeo Association finals, set for July 14-20 in Rock Springs, Wy., and the Canadian championships July 25-27 in Nanton.

“I have been pretty much riding my horse every single day for the past spring and fall,” said Skocdopole, a Grade 11 student at William E. Hay Composite High School in Stettler. “I got winter off, but I just kind of had the attitude that I was going to make nationals, and just reached my ultimate goal.”

Skocdopole is part of a rodeo family that includes a couple of pros in her father Wayne and uncle Dale.

“My sister Brooke made (high school) nationals last year, and my brother Luke actually made nationals this year, too, in the junior division,” she said.

Luke Skocdopole leaves for Gallup, New Mexico, next Wednesday for the National Junior High Finals Rodeo, which runs June 23-29.

Brooke Skocdopole, 18, is home for the summer after her first year with the Western Oklahoma State College rodeo team. Her teammates included freshman Brant Jones, a Consort bull-rider.

In provincial poles competition, Hope Skocdopole finished with 139 points, while runner-up Darby Wilkinson of Arrowwood had 132.

Skocdopole also competed in team roping with Lane Purdie of Red Deer, but they didn’t advance.

She’s been competing in high school rodeo for three years, and did the junior high circuit for the previous three years.

Now she’s been rewarded with back-to-back trips to the national and Canadian rodeos. It’s a tight schedule travel-wise, but Skocdopole isn’t complaining.

“No, I love it,” she said. “It’s pretty much as soon as we get home, we have to head to Canadians.

“I’ve kind of planned my summer around making it, but it’s just been really whatever happens, happens.”

Skocdopole has local company among the Alberta qualifiers for the nationals in Wyoming and the Canadian finals in Nanton.

Most notably, fellow Big Valley cowgirl Allie Hiemstra has punched her ticket with a runner-up finish in goat-tying at the provincials.

Hiemstra and Nanton’s Jenna Dallyn tied with 132 points — second only to Matea Lloyd of Okotoks with 138.

“We only live about 10 minutes away from each other, and we went to school together, all through pre-school to where we are now,” Skocdopole said of her longtime ties with Hiemstra.

“And our families are pretty good friends. It’s pretty cool.”

Hiemstra’s sister Makyla competed in barrel-racing at the Alberta finals rodeo and finished in the top half of the 30-entry field.

Shane Peters of Delburne won the bull-riding crown at the provincials. Jones took that title last year.

The top four in each event qualify for the nationals stateside, while the top six finishers are eligible for the Canadian finals.

Most of those competitors plan to compete in both events, said Betty Leischner of the Alberta High School Rodeo Association.

She confirmed Monday a list of 43 entries from the AHSRA for the nationals. The Canadian list, however, won’t be finalized “for a couple of weeks, as we need to see how many Alberta kids we can send,” Leischner said.

A couple of the Alberta competitors are border residents of Saskatchewan. District 2 cowboys Cody Lane and Chase Zweifel qualified for the national finals in saddle bronc.

One of the up-and-comers in District 2 is Logan Spady, a Grade 9 rookie from Gus Wetter School in Castor. Spady tied for sixth place in a 30-man tie-down roping field.

Running from Thursday night through Sunday afternoon, the provincials doubled as a social gathering and a sporting event for the high school students and their families, with trailers dotting the Ponoka Stampede grounds.

“A lot of (rodeo) friends were there, and lots of my friends (from the Stettler area) also made it down there,” Skocdopole said.

“It was just a really good weekend.”