There’s no mistaking the rodeo kids among the hundreds of students at Lloydminster Comprehensive High School.
Grade 12 students Cole Irwin and Colt Hillis are decorated cowboys bound for the National High School Finals Rodeo (NHSFR) this July in Wyoming, standing out in both competition and western fashion.
“Oh yeah, you can definitely tell,” a chuckling Irwin said about how recognizable the rodeo students are in the Comp classrooms and hallways.
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“It’s a pretty tight bunch in Lloyd. Me and Colt are always the ones wearing jeans around school when everyone else is wearing shorts in the spring and summer.”
Now, both boys are also sporting fresh championship buckles after qualifying for the coveted U.S. nationals for the first time in their respective categories.
Hillis, featured in the May 29 edition of the Meridian Source, advanced in bull-riding, while Irwin punched his ticket in team roping and tie-down roping.
“I was really focused on making it in the team roping,” said Irwin, 17. “I wanted to make it in the tie-down, too, but I was also prepared not to make it in the tie-down.
“But I had a better year than I thought I would, I guess. I got a little better throughout the year, so it worked out nicely and I got ’er done.”
Irwin and Hillis — buddies from rodeo and school — got the job done in late May during the Saskatchewan High School Rodeo Association provincial finals in Maple Creek.
“Oh, it was awesome,” said Iriwn, who lives just north of Marshall. “It was really close, but we had a lucky finals. We won a round in finals and that put us in a position where we had it locked in.
“I was just on the very edge of it in the calf roping (tie-down), and then it was kind of a last-second thing, too, that I got a spot in that.
“It was beautiful down there (in Maple Creek). We had a really good weekend. Not too windy. Everyone could swing their ropes, so it was good.”
In team roping, Irwin partnered with fellow senior Brandsten Moore, who lives north of North Battleford, near Rabbit Lake. They had honed their craft in practices at each other’s home properties during the high school season and at indoor practice pens all winter.
“We just partnered up this year (for high school competition), but I’ve been roping with him since I was little,” said Irwin, almost six feet and 170 pounds. “We’ve roped around home and throughout Saskatchewan, just in jackpots together, so I knew him pretty good.”
The chemistry between Iriwn and Moore was seemingly scientific and a decisive factor at the provincial finals.
“Oh, I think so,” Irwin agreed. “We always had a plan. We always talked to each other before our runs, made sure we’re both in a good mindset before we go.”
Now, they’re going to the NHSRF, which runs July 13-19 in Rock Springs, Wy., and the Canadian high school finals, set for July 31 through Aug. 2 in Brandon, Man.
COLLEGE SCHOLARSHIP
In mid-August, Irwin heads to Hobbs, New Mexico, to cash in on his junior college rodeo scholarship. He’ll be team roping and calf roping as part of the collegiate team and studying farm and ranch management. Within a few years, he hopes to transfer to Mesalands Community College, north of Hobbs, to study wind-turbine technology.
Irwin already knows high-level college rodeo is blowing in the wind stateside.
“Oh yeah, it’s huge down there,” he said. “The rodeo team is a big part of their school in all those little towns with colleges.
“So, it’s good that way. It’s really competitive down there.”
Irwin did his homework in selecting New Mexico Junior College in Hobbs. He shortlisted and toured multiple schools before making his choice.
“They had a really nice facility and they offered me a good deal there, so it should be good,” he said. “I’d love to be down there, roping all day.”
LESSONS FROM GRANDPA
His passion for roping, and rodeo in general, goes all the way back to his grandparents.
“My grandpa (Doug) taught my dad (Craig) and he taught me,” Irwin said. “Grandpa kind of started the whole thing. He taught all us grandkids. We all could go to his house and rope when we were little.”
Irwin’s brother Ty, 14, is a Grade 9 student and active on the rodeo circuit.
Cole Irwin was thankful he was able to compete this season after missing last year’s high school action because of a shoulder dislocation. The year before that, he won the Canadian finals with Ryder Zunti, now a college rodeo student in Arizona.
As he prepares for his high school graduation from Lloyd Comp this month, Irwin is also busy working in a construction yard in the Border City. He plans to hit the road for more rodeos this summer, beyond his string of high school championships.
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