Payson Roundup

Payson High School junior Jessi James is making a big name for herself on the Arizona Junior Rodeo Association and Arizona High School Rodeo Association circuits.

In the AHSRA state championships, she qualified for the national finals in the breakaway roping and will be one of more than 1,500 qualifiers from 41 states, five Canadian provinces and Australia to compete in the National High School Finals, the world’s largest rodeo.

In an AJRA rodeo held two weeks ago, she finished as runner-up for the 13-15-years all-around cowgirl championship.

She also won first place in the 13-15-years breakaway roping. For that win, she received her first-ever saddle.

James also entered the team roping with her mother, Teri, and the two lassoed their way to a second-place showing, In the ribbon roping, she and partner Tanner Baldwin took the silver medal.

In the 13-15-years barrel racing she won a championship buckle.

At the National High School Finals rodeo, to be held July 19 to 25 in Farmington, N.M., she and the other qualifiers will compete for $200,000 in prize and $325,000 in college scholarships.

Good job, Little Leaguers

Congratulations to all the Little Leaguers who were named to the Payson all-star teams that are now representing our town in postseason tournaments in Winslow, Flagstaff, Taylor and Pinetop-Lakeside.

Being selected an all-star is a tremendous accomplishment and represents the culmination of a good deal of practice and dedication to the game.

Also congratulations to the coaches and managers who give up much of their time to voluntarily lead the all-star teams.

Let’s also not forget the efforts of the Little League players who did not make the all-star teams.

Most likely, they put a good deal of time and effort in playing baseball, but for a variety of reasons, sometimes lack of maturity, they weren’t chosen all-stars.

As a former Little League coach in Phoenix, Tempe and Show Low, I’ve seen many young players fail to make all-stars and then blossom into outstanding high school athletes.

As adults, let’s encourage the non all-stars to continue to improve and never lose sight of their goals.

Benefit tournament

The annual Elks Clothe-a-Child Golf Tournament will be played Aug. 1.

Check-in is 7 a.m. and an hour later the fray gets off with a shotgun start. The format is four-man teams of best-ball play, but golfers who do not have a team will be assigned one.

The fee is $80 per golfer, $65 for members of PGC, which includes 18 holes of play with a cart, lunch, raffle prizes and awards for closest-to-the-pin and longest drive.

The evening of the tournament, a dinner, cocktail hour, silent auction, music and dancing will be held at Payson Elks Lodge #2154.

An Aug. 2 morning breakfast will also be served from 7 to 10 a.m. at the lodge.

For those who don’t golf, there will also be plenty of activities going on at the lodge including bingo from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Reservations must be made by the deadline on July 18.

Entry forms are available at the Elks Lodge located at 1206 N. Beeline Highway. For more information, call Becky Waer at (928) 476-3678 or the lodge at (928) 474-2572.

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