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Goldenite Corner: Brothers competing in team roping at rodeo nationals
BY CORINNE WESTEMAN CWESTEMAN@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
Brothers Gus and Hogan Kelley are keeping Golden’s Wild West traditions and their family’s rodeo prowess alive. e two recently won the Colorado State High School Rodeo Association championship in team roping and will compete at nationals July 16-22 in Gillette, Wyoming.
Gus and Hogan, 17 and 15 respectively, are sixth-generation ranchers and have been riding horses practically since they were born. ey’ve been competing both together and individually in rodeo events over the last six years, including cutting and calf roping.
eir dad — who’s also an experienced rodeo competitor — coaches them every day on team roping and other events.
On July 16, they’ll step onto the national stage alongside 1,500 other high school students from North America, including about 200 team roping duos.
But, between their experience and their brotherly rapport, they’re not nervous about showcasing their skills at nationals. At this point, team roping is muscle memory, Gus said. e two brothers are the only Golden High School students in CSHSRA. Because 2022-23 was their rst year together at GHS, it was also their rst year competing together in high school-level rodeo events.
Gus said that made their state title all the sweeter, as they’ll only have one more year together in CSHSRA before Gus graduates.
In team roping, one person — called the header — is responsible for roping the steer’s head or horns. Once the header successfully gets a hold of the steer’s head or horns, they use their horse to turn the steer so the second person — the heeler — can rope its
For the Kelleys, Gus is the header, which he equated to being a quarterback, as he’s responsible for “making the call” and getting his team started
Teams can be penalized for not giving the steer enough of a head start, which varies from rodeo to rodeo, or for not adequately roping the steer. Each team is assigned a steer via random draw, so the brothers always
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