GILLETTE — Three Lake County athletes competed in the High School Rodeo Nationals last weekend in Gillette, Wyo., where the best of the high school rodeo athletes competed for top cowboy and cowgirl honors.

Colt Nagy, of Charlo, and Cody Sheridan, of Arlee, both headed to Nationals to compete in team roping. Emily Schall, of Arlee, competed in the barrel racing event. The competitors qualified for nationals after putting in top performances at the state finals in June.

“It was very huge,” Tara Sheridan, Cody’s mom, said. “It’s the largest outdoor rodeo in America.”

The event was held at the Cam Plex arenas and there were over 1,480 contestants and between 10,000 to 12,000 spectators at the seven-day event. Competitors came from 41 different states, Canada and Australia.

While some athletes stayed in hotels, they also set up each camping area around the rodeo grounds for each specific state.

“Cody met plenty of people from Ohio, Alaska, Arizona,” Sheridan said. “He met kids from all over.”

There were two performances each day for the athletes. There was one in the morning at 9 a.m. and then one in the evening at 7 p.m.

Tara Sheridan sent updates from the event via e-mail. Here are some of the excerpts:

“The kids are enjoying lots of fun events, today was the volleyball games, Montana took on Texas in the first round and won! Montana then took on Illinois in the second round and lost, but had a great time.

There are many other fun events that the kids can do: NRA Trap Shoot, Heel-O-Matic Roping Clinics, Pro-Rodeo 101 Seminars, College Fair and of course dances every night.

They are all having fun in Gillette. The weather is hot and sometimes windy, but all is wonderful and they are having fun!”

To see photos from the finals, check out www.leaderadvertiser.com.