The trip back from Wyoming might have been as memorable as last week’s National High School Finals Rodeo for the Hasler family.
Grace and Mel Hasler and their father Mike stayed with friends just outside of Kearney, Nebraska, Monday and Tuesday after their truck broke down on their way home. As luck would have it, the breakdown happened only 10 miles from the house of friends Grace and Mel had met over the years at the national rodeo event. Their mother Dena had flown back to Indiana.
This year’s NHSFR was a little extra special for the Hasler sisters. Mel, who will be a junior at Hauser, was elected national president, and Grace, who recently graduated from Hauser, won a $1,000 scholarship.
Mel went went to meetings the first day of the competition and gave and introductory speech, telling the roughly 200 delegates who she was. The delegates consisted of two boys and two girls from each of 45 states, plus three Canadian provinces, Mexico and Australia.
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“During the week, I gave out stickers and candy and kind of campaigned,” she said. “Then Friday afternoon, we gave our real speeches on why we thought we would be good for that office.”
Mel had been junior high president her eighth-grade year. Grace was high school secretary her junior year.
As president, Mel will get to go to the National Finals Rodeo in December in Las Vegas and to the mid-winter meetings in January in Salt Lake City.
“I was so excited just thinking about what this year is going to hold,” she said. “Just Grace talking about it and being friends with the other officers, the high school officers get to travel more than the junior high officers do. I’m super excited about what I can do this year.”
In the rodeo competition, Mel missed by only two spots of making the “Short Go” in goat tying, finishing 22nd. She timed 9.1 seconds on her first run and needed an 8.7 on her second to make the short go, but was clocked in 8.8.
Mel also competed in breakaway roping and team roping. She and Grace competed together in team roping, but they missed tying the goat on both of their runs.
Grace, who made the Short Go and finished 12th in goat tying last year, was top 30 in that event before rolling an ankle while dismounting from her horse. She also did breakaway roping, barrels and poles. She was 15th midway through second round in barrells, but ended up 38th.
That followed the state competition in which Grace won goat tying and placed in the top four of all of her events on her way to capturing the all-around title for high points. Mel was in the top four in three events and third in all-around. The pair were reserve champions in team roping.
Grace had considered doing rodeo in college before winning a Lilly Community Endowment Scholarship, which is good only at in-state schools. She is going to Purdue, where she plans to major in agriculture sales and marketing with a minor in animal science.
While Mel has at least two years of state and National High School Finals Rodeo, this was Grace’s last national event. She does plan to compete in one more rodeo on Saturday in Cynthiana, Kentucky.
After not faring as well as she had hoped at the national event, Grace is not second guessing her decision to go to Purdue, which does not have a rodeo team.
“It was God’s way of saying it’s a good thing I’m not going to do college rodeo,” she said.
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Name: Grace Hasler
High school: Hauser
College: Purdue
Other sports: Was a four-time regional place-winner in the 300-meter hurdles in track and field and was a three-year starter in basketball at Hauser
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Name: Mel Hasler
High school: Hauser
Year: Will be a junior
Other sports: Ran on the regional-qualifying 4×100 relay team in track and split time between varsity and JV in basketball last year
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