Colton Mewbourn of Maben, an eighth-grade student at East Webster High School, has earned a position on the Mississippi National Junior High rodeo team and will be traveling with fellow teammates to Huron, S.D., June 23-29 to compete at the 15th National Junior High finals rodeo in the bull riding and bareback competitions.
Featuring roughly 1,000 contestants, the NJHFR is the world’s largest junior high rodeo.
Again this year, the Saturday championship performance will be televised nationally as part of the Cinch High School rodeo Tour telecast series on RFD-TV. Live broadcasts of all NJHFR performances will air on www.RidePass.com. Performance times are 7 p.m. on June 23 and 9 a.m. and 7 p.m. each day thereafter.
To follow Colton’s results, visit www.NHSRA.com daily for complete results.
Colton, 14, started in September with the Mississippi Junior High School Rodeo Association, where he travels all over the state. He started rodeo with the MJHSRA when he was in the fourth grade.
He started in steer riding, where he ended his eighth-grade year in bull riding, bareback, steer riding, team roping, ribbon roping, goat tying and breakaway roping.
Colton ended the season fourth in bareback, fourth in bull riding and seventh in team roping in the state in MJHSRA nationals going for a world champion title. Everyone starts at nationals with no points, so it’s anyone’s world title.
Colton made the Cinch Rodeo Team this year. Colton was selected to be president of his rodeo team, of which he served as vice president in 2017.
Colton competed in Amite, La., in May for Cinch finals to see who would qualify for nationals in Huron. The team takes the top four in each event. Colton, who qualified in bull riding and bareback, won Round 1 in finals in bareback and placed third in Round 2 in bareback. Colton tried hard in team roping and missed going by a few points; he said there is always next year.
On July 3 and 4, he will be competing in invitational bull riding at the Lane Frost Arena in Lane, Okla. Colton said it’s an honor to ride in a world-champion bull riding arena.
Colton will serve Webster County and the great state of Mississippi well in Huron. He was selected to say the prayer in the Thursday night performance and was selected to be a delegate to vote for next year’s officers.
Colton looks forward to the future. He moves up to ninth grade, when he will be on the high school rodeo team. Colton wants to start roping in high school. He really enjoys team roping.
His two horses, Muffin and Scout, do a great job for him. Colton went to three nationals last year in South Dakota, Las Vegas and Oklahoma. He looks forward to Vegas this year, where he wants to go and rope.
Colton’s parents are Carroll and Kristi Mewbourn of Maben. His grandparents are Lyn and Liz Black of McCool, and Ken and Catherine Mullen of North Little Rock, Ark, and his great-grandmother is Inez Gladney of McCool.
Colton thanks everyone who has helped him up and down the rodeo road to live his dream. He also thanks his Lord and Savior for always watching over him. Anyone wanting to donate or sponsor him may contact Colton at 662-285-8495.
