Suzanne Stewart
Staff Writer
This summer, while most of her fellow classmates were gearing up for their senior year at Pocahontas County High School, Mya Workman, of Hillsboro, was in Wyoming, representing the West Virginia High School Rodeo Association.
On July 7, Workman, who is president of the WVHSRA, traveled to Cody, Wyoming, and spent a week there competing in the Cody Nite Rodeo. From there, she went to Rock Springs, Wyoming, where she competed in the National High School Rodeo Association finals.
“I compete in barrel racing, pole bending, goat tying, breakaway roping and team roping,” she said. “I caught my first calf good in the breakaway roping, but then my second calf – technically you’re supposed to catch them by what’s called a bell collar catch, so it’s just around the neck – and I caught a front foot, so it didn’t count.”
At the national competition, there were more than 1,500 high school students from 46 states, and Mexico, New Zealand and Australia, all vying for the fastest score in their event.
Workman was joined by fellow PCHS students Warren Burns and Lane Butcher, and recent PCHS grad Hannah Burks, who is now competing on the college level.
While they were focused on doing their best during the competition, they also had a chance to mingle with students from other states and countries.
“They have dances every night,” Workman said. “It’s like get-together dances to get to know the other kids.”
Workman also had a chance to meet college coaches while she was in Wyoming.
“I’m thinking of going to New Mexico or Alabama,” she said. “At this nationals, they had a college day, and I talked to the New Mexico coaches and they were really homey.”
Workman has been competing in rodeo events since she was in the sixth grade, but was no stranger to riding horses, which she began doing at a younger age. She started riding horses with Nicole Brock and was introduced to rodeo by family members – her uncle, Jarrett McLaughlin, and her older sister, Olivia.
“Jarrett is the one that got me into the roping side of things and then my sister used to barrel race in the high school rodeo,” Workman said.
Competing in rodeo events takes a lot of time and effort, but it was easy for Workman to decide if she would do rodeo or school sports.
“It was guaranteed rodeo for sure,” she said, laughing. “You’ve got such a deep friendship with your horse, and you grow friendships with the rodeo kids, too.”
This summer, with the help of her sponsor, the Pocahontas County Convention and Visitors Bureau, Workman was able to compete at Wyoming with two of her horses, Gus and Sweetpea.
“They’re pretty seasoned,” she said. “They’re both fifteen so they’ve done the trip a few times. I’ve had Gus since my seventh-grade year and then Sweetpea, I’ve been riding her for about a year.”
In addition to competing, Workman has taken her role as president of the WVHSRA seriously. She is always open to talking about rodeo and eager to recruit new members to the association.
“We are doing a lot of fundraisers, and we have a lot of new kids that are trying to join,” she said. “We have get-togethers a lot. I couldn’t help with it, but [one weekend] we had a special Olympics rodeo, so they did barrels and poles and stuff with some of the special needs kids.”
Events are often held at the arena on Second Avenue in Marlinton.
Anyone interested in learning more about the rodeo association or who want to join may reach out to Workman at school or online. She’s ready to welcome other rodeo enthusiasts into the fold.
She also encourages anyone who can travel to Wyoming to do so.
“It was awesome,” she said. “If anybody gets the opportunity, I’d tell them to go, because it’s a different kind of pretty than West Virginia – but it’s so pretty.”
