Popko closes out CHSRA District 8 career with scholarship

Fallbrook High School senior Kerry Popko feared that she had concluded her California High School Rodeo Association District 8 career with a poor Pole Bending run May 5 at the Lakeside Rodeo Grounds. She still qualified for the CHSRA state finals, but the actual conclusion to her District 8 career was the receipt of a $500 merit scholarship at the awards banquet later that day.

“I’m really grateful,” Popko said of the scholarship.

The scholarship was based on grades, a rodeo resume, an essay about the applicant’s CHSRA experience, and references from teachers. Popko, who is Fallbrook High School’s Associated Student Body public relations commissioner for 2007-08, provided a letter of reference from ASB advisor Josh Way. Her essay focused on her relationship with her horse, Banjo, and her accomplishments in high school rodeo. Popko entered her final high school semester with a cumulative 3.4 grade point average.

Popko had been an English rider and had participated in equitation, pleasure, and hunter/jumper competition before her seven years in Junior Rodeo and four years of high school rodeo. California Junior Rodeo Association competitions involve one go-round, and Popko often participated in both Pole Bending and Barrel Racing at CJRA rodeos. Since most CHSRA district rodeos involve two go-rounds in a day, Popko felt that four runs was too much stress on a single horse and rarely competed in Barrel Racing.

Because the final rodeo of the District 8 season was a two-day event May 4-5 at the Lakeside Rodeo Grounds with one go-round each day, Popko competed in Barrel Racing at Lakeside, narrowly missing top-ten times in the go-rounds and the average.

Wins in both go-rounds and the average April 13 at Camp Pendleton’s Ace Bowen Arena placed Popko in a tie for second in the Pole Bending standings entering the final rodeo of the year. In the May 4 go-round Popko clinched a spot in the CHSRA state finals with a second-place time of 20.69 seconds.

“It was a really nice run. It was clean,” Popko said of her first Pole Bending go-round. “It was everything I was hoping for.”

The top five finishers in the district point standings for each event are invited to the CHSRA state finals, which this year will be held June 17-22 in Bishop, while the sixth-place finisher becomes the alternate for the state finals. The nine position points for her second-place go-round sealed the trip to the state finals for Popko. “That was my goal,” said Popko, whose ensuing goal is to place among the top four at the state finals and earn a trip to the national finals, which this year will be held in Farmington, New Mexico.

The May 4 go-round also saw Destri Devenport clinch the District 8 Pole Bending title. Devenport, who lived in Bonsall from 1998 to 2003, only earned one point in April as her horse was lame and she used a borrowed horse for the Camp Pendleton rodeo. For the May rodeo she borrowed Tiny from former CHSRA District 8 champion Melanie Miller, and Devenport won the first go-round with a time of 20.51 seconds.

Maddie Dewberry, who was sixth in the standings entering the final district rodeo, was third in the first go-round at 20.97 seconds. Lauren Herron, who entered the go-round three points behind Popko, was fourth while Carollann Scott, who shared second with Popko, was fifth in the first go-round. Tyla Treasure, who was also three points behind Popko entering the final rodeo, hit a pole May 4, and the five-second penalty incurred for knocking down a pole kept her from the position points awarded to the top ten finishers.

In the second go-round Popko and Banjo knocked down two poles, giving her ten seconds worth of penalty time, and after also pulling up she had a time of 33.22 seconds as well as a two-run average of 53.91 seconds.

“He just dropped his shoulder into it,” Popko said.

Popko was able to salvage fourth in the season standings by a single point and by 1/100th of a second. Paige Connelly’s time of 21.03 seconds in the May 5 go-round edged out Treasure’s run of 21.04 seconds, and Treasure’s second place go-round and ninth place average weren’t sufficient to overtake Popko. Scott, Dewberry, and Herron rounded out the top five positions in the go-round while Devenport knocked down a pole.

Dewberry, Scott, and Herron took the top three positions in the average while Devenport was seventh. Devenport accumulated 156 1/2 points for the season, Scott ended the season with 140 points, Herron obtained 135 points throughout the district year, Popko ended her district season with 126 points, and Treasure tallied 125 points.

Devenport also won the Breakaway Roping title for District 8 and was also the champion All-Around Girl. She finished second in the season Barrel Racing, Girls Cutting, and Team Roping header standings. Devenport won the first Barrel Racing go-round and the average at Lakeside and teamed with Campo’s Kendal Bruton to win the first Team Roping go-round.

Popko’s first Barrel Racing run took 16.65 seconds, placing 11th behind Scott’s final points position time of 16.63 seconds. Popko’s May 5 run of 16.69 seconds placed 13th and was 3/100 of a second behind the Herron’s tenth-place time. Popko’s average of 33.34 seconds gave her 11th place; Scott took tenth in the average at 33.31 seconds.

Although Popko participated in too few Barrel Racing events to place in the standings, she considered her participation at Lakeside to be good preparation for her future career, in which there will be fewer Pole Bending opportunities. “I want to get more into Barrel Racing so I can keep my career going,” she said.

Popko, who will graduate from Fallbrook High School on June 5, will leave immediately after her graduation for a National Barrel Horse Association competition in Las Vegas. She has no regrets about missing her graduation party. “This is my life,” she said. “I would rather be on my horse.”

Popko will also miss her brother’s June 21 college graduation from the Brooks Institute of Photography because she will be in Bishop. Popko, who reached the state finals all four years, was also in Bishop for her brother’s high school graduation.

Popko will be attending California State University Long Beach, where she will major in communications. Although Long Beach State has no collegiate rodeo team, she may participate in National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association events as an independent. She plans to join the Women’s Professional Rodeo Association after college.

Popko’s CHSRA career also included serving as the 2006-07 CHSRA District 8 queen and as the 2007-08 District 8 student vice-president.

“It’s sad,” she said of the end of her District 8 career. “It’s been my life for the last four years.”