Two Spanish Fork brothers made history in the high school rodeo world by taking first and second place at the National High School Finals Rodeo in steer wrestling.
The National Championships were held from July 19-25 at the Sandhills Global Event Center in Lincoln, Nebraska. Nearly 1,800 high school-aged competitors came not only from all 50 states, but from Canada, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, and Guatemala. Even with that steep level of competition, Burk Austin, 19 and Ace Austin, 17, rose to the top.
“I love the animals and I just love the competition that it brings,” Burk said. “The opportunities that rodeo gives you is something that I feel like not a lot of other high school sports get to have. And we get to do it as a family, That makes it even better.”
The Austins live on a five-acre farm in Lake Shore, where they care for cattle and spend time training for rodeo. In fact, their parents Katie and Judd Austin met in the rodeo world. Judd Austin is a professional steer wrestler competing in PRCA rodeos. He is also the president of the Utah High School Rodeo Association.
Katie Austin said that rodeo is very much a family endeavor, adding that they do their best to make sure to find balance at home.
“They get up every morning and get chores done,” Katie Austin said. “We have steers to feed and other animals to take care of. During the school year, they’re still having to do their school and studies, and it’s not just one event they’re involved in. They do three events each and so there’s a lot of hours that are involved to keep them in their top shape and competition ready.”
Along with steer wrestling, the brothers do team roping and tie-down roping. At the national competition, Burk and Ace took fourth place in team roping, Burk took fourth in tie-down roping, and Ace won the reserve all-around cowboy title.
Ace said that he loves the entire rodeo community, adding that he’s excited that he has one more year to compete in high school.
“I love steer wrestling,” Ace said. “When I started, I wasn’t really too much into it, but I’ve kind of grown to like it more. The sport is really fun, but it’s fun to get to know different people and get to be around cool people.”
Burk may be done with high school rodeo, but he said he’s not done rodeoing. For now, he will focus on preparing to serve a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saint mission in Albuquerque, New Mexico starting mid-August. When he returns, he will attend Utah Valley University on a rodeo scholarship.
“It’s just fun to see them work hard and dream big about things that happened last week,” Katie Austin said. “And then to have it actually happen to your family is pretty cool.
“Looking back in the record books of any kind of records that have been written down or held in the NHSRA, there’s no record of brothers winning an all- around title, or a steer wrestling title together. To go one and two. It’s really a cool thing.”
The Spanish Fork High School Rodeo Team sent eight total athletes to the national competition, including Ace Austin, Burk Austin, Bella Bigler, Tate Crandall, Jhet Hanks, Landon Hanks, Hadlie Olsen, and Rachel Whitehead.
