Early in my junior year of high school, something just seemed to click. For years I had been climbing on anything that had horns, usually hitting the dirt more often than not. Then almost overnight, it felt like a switch flipped. Rides that had been slipping away before started coming together, and I began to put together solid scores.
That season I came close to making the high school finals, winning several local rodeos and bull ridings along the way. For the first time, I was seeing my name in the paper and feeling like all those practice pens, bruises, and broken bones were starting to pay off.
By my senior year, I was riding with confidence and consistency. I qualified for the high school finals, picked up more wins at local events, and felt like I had finally stepped into the rider I had been working so hard to become. Those later high school years were a turning point — when the determination from the early days finally began to show up on the scoreboard.
