Berquist, Mills place 17th at national high school rodeo

Cooper Mills and Caleb Berquist participate in the team roping event at the 2015 High School Nationals Finals Rodeo in Rock Springs, Wyo. The duo earned 17th in the nation for the event.

Tommi Swannack is shown during the goat tying event at the nationals event, in which she placed fifth in the nation.

Local high school students participated in the 2015 High School National Finals Rodeo in Rock Springs, Wyo., earlier this summer.

Cooper Mills of St. John/Endicott, Caleb Berquist, Colfax student of LaCrosse, Tommi Swannack of Sprague and Jacey Johnson of Rosalia traveled to Rock Springs for nationals. To place in their event, they had to score within the top 20.

The rodeo drew more than 1,500 participants from across the U.S., Canada and Australia for the largest high school rodeo event in the world.

Cooper Mills and Caleb Berquist earned 17th in the nation in team roping. Mills and Berquist finished with an 8.2 second run to qualify for the short round where they eventually placed 17th.

Mills and Berquist qualified for the nationals after a second place state finish in May.

Mills, son of Rod and Jessica Mills, graduated from St. John/Endicott High School in June and will attend Vernon College in Vernon, Texas, where, he plans to further his rodeo career on the Vernon rodeo team.

Mills also competed in tie down roping at nationals as a third-place qualifier at state.

Berquist, son of Shane and Kim Berquist of LaCrosse, is a sophomore at Colfax High School and will continue his rodeo participation this season. He was named the Washington State High School 2015 Rookie of the Year.

Swannack, daughter of Tom and Holly Swannack, competed in goat tying and light rifle shooting. She qualified for nationals after a third place finish in goat tying and second place finish in light rifle shooting at state. At nationals, she continued to do well, earning fifth in goat tying and 14th out of 125 shooters in light rifle shooting.

Johnson, daughter of Shane and Wendy Johnson of Rosalia, booked her ticket to nationals in goat tying and team roping, with second and third place finishes, respectively, at state. She participated in both events at nationals, but did not place in the top 20. She is a junior at Rosalia High School.

The first high school rodeo of the season will be Sept. 12 and 13 in Yelm. Ten rodeos are booked in September and October before the winter break. The season will resume with 10 more spring rodeos before the state finals at the end of May.