A Douglas High School junior, riding a horse she borrowed five minutes before the event, went on to win the title of Nevada State High School Rodeo Queen for 2000-01.
Jessica Helms won the contest in Fallon on June 17 on a horse borrowed from the reigning queen shortly before the event. She also performed one of the required patterns on her own 20-year-old barrel horse, Bobby.
"I just went out there and did the best I could," Helms said. "I brushed up on my current events and worked with my horse." She ended up borrowing the other horse when Bobby started acting up.
Helms, Douglas High School rodeo queen for the last two years, had to give a speech, complete a reining pattern, carry a flag at a full gallop while waving to the crowd, and answer impromptu questions about current events to win the state title.
She will now represent Nevada in the national finals in Springfield, Ill., from July 23 through 30. Her grandparents, Tom and Gaye McCaslin, will accompany her.
Helms got her first horse when she was seven years old. In 1994 she started competing in gymkhanas - barrel racing and pole-bending events - and then got into high school rodeo.
"Her first contest was when she went to the state contest last year," said her grandmother Gaye McCaslin.
Helms said that experience, along with attending two rodeo queen clinics, let her know what to expect this year.
As state queen, she will be competing in rodeos around the state this fall and next spring.
