Elgin’s high school rodeo team is in the state finals

By Garrett Christensen on Monday, June 8th, 2026 in More Top Stories Northeastern Oregon News

ELGIN – It’s not just professional rodeo circuits that are heating up this month. With the 2025-2026 school year coming to a close, state competitions are underway for junior high and high school rodeo teams in Oregon and Idaho, including some local faces from Elgin, La Grande, and Weston.

As of the time of writing, eight students from the Elgin Junior High/High School rodeo team, plus two other local high school students, are either headed to or have completed state competitions. For the Elgin team this includes:

Junior High (Idaho State Finals)

Ross Evans – chute dogging, team roping, goat tying, tie down
Payton Evans – team roping, chute dogging
Hailey Herron – goat tying and breakaway
Clayton McClure – team roping and breakaway

High School (Idaho State Finals)

Weston Evans
Waylon McClure

High School (Oregon State Finals)

Kinley Williamson
Kale Williamson

Also joining this little Northeast Oregon rodeo group from other schools are:

Brymlee Morehead – La Grande – poles, breakaway, team roping
Teagan Robbins -Weston -team roping, breakaway

For anyone curious as to why most of the kids are competing in Idaho this year, according to local rodeo parents Kit Evans & Chelsea Evans, the decision was mostly down to proximity. With most of Oregon’s high school rodeo events hosted on the west side (Klamath Falls, Rosenberg etc.), most families opted to compete in the Idaho brackets through hardship applications.

The decision seems to have been the right one, however, as the Idaho Junior High State Finals have been great for the kids and families alike. As described by Chelsea Evans in a recent interview:

“What a great week of Idaho Jr High Rodeo in Pocatello. Ross had some highs and lows this week but ended up coming back to the short go this morning in 2 out of his 4 events. He ended up 10th in the Team Roping and 11th in the Chute Dogging and as a bonus won 1st in the JHSR Contestants only jackpot. Short Go starts at 10am.

Ross did good. I think ended up 9th overall in the Chute Dogging and 12th in the Team roping. Didn’t make it to nationals but had a good weekend. PR’d in Chute dogging with a 4.01 today. He did win the small jr high contestant only jack pot team roping last night and won a buckle and some cash so that was good”

According to Chelsea, Brymlee Morehead from La Grande has also already qualified for high school nationals. In the meantime, Weston Evans and Waylon McClure are back in Pocatello this week through Saturday, June 13 for the high school finals. Kinley Williamson & Kale Williamson, the two competitors staying in Oregon, have their final events beginning Wednesday, June 10 through the 13.

Good luck and congratulations to all local rodeo competitors!