Wecks crowned Miss Teen Rodeo Oregon
By Paul Hall on Thursday, July 1st, 2021 in More Top Stories Northeastern Oregon News
JOSEPH, OR – On Saturday June 25th, 17-year-old Destiny Wecks from Joseph took part in the 2022 Miss Teen Rodeo Oregon pageant with her 10-year old bay AQHA gelding Opie. The pageant is part of the Jr/Teen and Sweetheart Pageant for Miss Rodeo Oregon and part of the Tillamook Queen and Little Miss Tillamook pageant. Destiny’s began with the pageant welcome which swiftly went into the individual interviews with 3 judges and knowledge test. During interviews, the contestants are asked questions from personality, rodeo knowledge, horse knowledge and questions from their biography that was included in their application. Applications had been submitted prior to June 1st. The applications must have been completed and included 3 different photographs including one of the contestants and their horses and one to be judged for photogenic award, and the contestants had to sell ads for the program as well due with their applications.
Then for the knowledge test they are challenged with knowledge about the rules for PCRA and NPRA rodeos, horse knowledge and more. Destiny studied hard and went in feeling super ready and came up knowing she had done well; she scored a 98% on her test. After the interviews/knowledge they could change clothes and attend a mock TV interview modeling portion of the pageant at a nearby nursey. Here the contestants modeled and then were asked questions as if they had won the title and were being interviewed for a local TV station. Then it was back to the Tillamook Fairgrounds for the horsemanship part of the pageant. Contestants are judged on overall horsemanship, appearance, runins, grand entry, flag carry, two patterns that included roll backs, lead changes, and speed differences much like you would see in a reining pattern. Then Friday night each contestant was mounted again for a judged part of actual rodeo runins. They are judged on appearance, personality, and horsemanship. Saturday began early with the contestants being judged prior to their participation in the June Diary Parade in Tillamook. The final part of the pageant included another modeling part as well as a prepared two-minute speech on Oregon and rodeo. Once they completed their speech at the luncheon, they were asked three impromptu questions- personality, rodeo knowledge and current events. They had one final group interview and judging was complete. Contestants would then do runins at the Saturday night Tillamook rodeo and await the coronation. The coronation was held in the arena during the Tillamook County Rodeo. Destiny was crowned the 2022 Miss Teen Rodeo Oregon.
Destiny is not new to the sport of rodeo queen representation. When she was 6 years old she was a Miss Rodeo Oregon Sweetheart, 2015 Jr Miss Rodeo Oregon, 2020-21 Oregon High School Rodeo First Attendant (Princess) and is currently a member of the 2020-2021 Chief Joseph Days Honorary Queen court. Destiny hopes to spend her year in 2022 inspiring other young ladies to reach for their dreams and become a Sweetheart, Jr, Teen, or Miss Rodeo Oregon or hold a title for one of our many local titles with EOLS, Elgin and Chief Joseph Days. Destiny will have a coronation in January in Enterprise and hopes everyone can come join her for that special night.
