GILLETTE, WYOMING S GILLETTE NEWS RECORD
MULTI-SPORT ATHLETES
Not all NHSFR athletes are exclusive to rodeo
Baseball ahead, one
cowboy seeks strong
final rodeo in Gillette
By JASON KORT
NEWS RECORD WRITER
jkort@gillettenewsrecord.net
The 1,584 contestants competing
at the worlds largest rodeo this week
have more than the NHSFR in com-
mon.
Most are student athletes who jug-
gle involvement in several sports on
their way to this national stage.
While many do specialize in rodeo,
others find themselves interested in
several sports and some of those
sports end up paying the bills.
Team roping pitcher
Hayden Udall made a commitment
to himself to qualify for this years
National High School Finals Rodeo.
The graduate of Campo Verde
High School in Gilbert, Arizona,
thinks he should have been a com-
petitor in tie-down roping at last
years event in Gillette.
Then a junior, Udall had more
important things to do in his
sports-crazy life, traveling to
Oklahoma for the Junior Sunbelt
Classic as a baseball pitcher instead
of competing in the state finals rodeo.
Baseball is his main sport.
Throwing a 92 mph fastball gener-
ates of attention from colleges and
pro scouts, no matter how small and
out of the way a players high school
might be.
The right-hander will leave for
Grand Canyon University in Phoenix
on Aug. 22 on a baseball scholar-
ship. A first team All-State selection,
the multi-sport athlete also is com-
petitive about finishing off his rodeo
career as a winner. After this week,
hell focus solely on a single sport
baseball for the first time in his
life.
A team roper with partner Owen
Perkins, they come to Gillette as the
Arizona state champs. Urdall had
to talk himself into one more year
of rodeo after consecutive stellar
seasons on the mound while helping
his team finish as the state Division 2
runner-up.
I figured this is my last year of
being able to do rodeo, so I might as
well try (hard at) it, he said. I had
the mindset going into the season
Welcome
National
School
Finals
Rodeo
Proudly Made in Wyoming
S Tuesday, July 18, 2017
Hayden Udall tosses a baseball in the air after rolling into Gillette for the team roping event at the National
High School Finals Rodeo on Friday afternoon. Udall will attend Grand Canyon University to play Division I
baseball in the fall.
that I was going to make it (to the
NHSFR).
Udall played football and basket-
ball through his sophomore year,
but gave both up after getting college
offers in baseball. His father, Sterling
Udall, was a cowboy for Central
Arizona College, so the young cow-
boy has been around rodeo ever
since he could swing a rope.
As he got older and had success in
other sports, he found himself prac-
ticing less at rodeo.
I really wasnt able to practice
much during (baseball) season, he
said. I was a baseball player only
during the season.
The cowboy said he always expect-
ed to be at the NHSFR this season
even with limited rodeo practice.
One final opportunity to participate
in the worlds largest rodeo was a
chance he couldnt pass up.
Urdall said it will be tough not
competing in rodeo next year, but
baseball is what Im sticking with. knee and ankle, which has cooled
He knows being a Division I athlete
High
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PAGE B3
News Record Photo/ Ed Glazar
Pete Bradshaw of Challis, Idaho,
may get tossed around in the are-
na bull riding during the National
High School Finals, but not so
much on the wrestling mat. The
senior took home a state wrestling
title this past school year.
will keep him plenty busy.
He hopes to get drafted. He has
been contacted by Major League
scouts, but since then sprained his
longs for the days when he can put
the scouts interest.
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The greatest feeling
Pete Bradshaw of Challis, Idaho,
always thought winning a rodeo was
the best feeling he could have as an
athlete.
The 18-year old bull rider said his
first love was rodeo and hes been
competing for 10 years.
Rodeo is the first sport that really
clicked for me, he said. But then
that changed with how I felt during
wrestling.
In the winter, Bradshaw won a
Class 1A 160-pound state wrestling
championship for Challis High
School. He was an All-State mid-
dle linebacker during the football
season, scoring 13 touchdowns and
recording 98 tackles for a squad that
finished 4-5.
So the standout is stuck between
sports, trying to decide which he
cant give up. In the winter, he craves
getting on a bull. In the summer, he
ple: The harder you work, the better
on a singlet and get on a mat.
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For now, Bradshaw plans on
reaping the benefits of being a multi-
sport athlete. Each sport has unique
advantages that allow him to become
a better all-around athlete.
He said wrestling helps with foot-
ball and rodeo.
It teaches me discipline and that
I need to work to get what I want, as
well as strength and explosiveness,
he said.
His prep team plays eight-man
football in the smallest division in
the state, where Bradshaw plays both
ways as a fullback and linebacker.
Hed rather play on defense, though,
and racking up tackles.
Bradshaw said he hasnt made
a decision yet about how to pur-
sue athletics beyond high school,
although he may continue wrestling
at Montana Western University in
Dillon, Montana. But with a success-
ful NHSFR in Gillette, that might
change his perspective.
Ive been working my butt off
to get better, he said of preparing
for his second consecutive NHSFR
appearance. Ive been trying to get
all the kinks figured out.
Working hard to get better
Orange Grove High School grad-
uate Will Wright of Sandia, Texas,
began playing football at age 4, mak-
ing that sport his first love.
With his father being big into
rodeo, the 2017 NHSFR qualifier in
both shooting sports said he decided
to give the sport a try when he was in
second grade.
Wright has qualified for the
NHSFR three times, although this
years trip to Gillette will only be
his second NHSFR appearance
after passing on the chance last year
because he couldnt afford the trip.
The cowboy uses both sports to
compliment the other. He earned
offensive MVP honors for his foot-
ball squad in the fall, something
that rarely happens for a lineman
who never touches the ball. It was
an honor that was selected by the
coaches, he said.
When I play football, I give 110
percent because you play how you
practice, Wright said. Its the same
thing in rodeo. Once you mentally
prepare yourself and are focused on
what needs to happen, the physical
ability will come.
Wright said the path to becoming
successful, regardless of sport, is sim-
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