While the Wyoming High School Rodeo Association state finals held this weekend in Douglas may not have seen local cowboys Tim Malm of Albin and Chance Madsen of Pine Bluffs best performances, both qualified for the national finals in Farmington, N.M. July 19-25.

Finishing seventh in the qualifying round for calf roping with a time of 17.49 was Malm. Malm came out the chute and quickly roped his calf, the troubles came in the tie down portion. The feisty calf gave fought and evaded Malm who grabbed on to the rope, walked it to the calf and finally brought him down.

Even with placing seventh, Malm held such a lead in total points (123.0) going into the event that the seventh place finish was irrelevant. Malm’s closest rival in the overall calf roping was Jake Gill who was more than 10 points behind Malm in the standings.

For Madsen, nerves and excitement played a key role in his non-qualifying ride Sunday.

"I put a lot of pressure on myself to be the absolute best at state," said Madsen. "And I think that had a lot to do with my performance."

Madsen said being aware of the nerves and excitement is also one of the things he’ll be mindful of when he heads to nationals.

"It definitely helps that I was there last year," he said.

On the season, Madsen finished with 183 points putting him in a tie with Lance Creeks’ Ace Thurston. Madsen’s friend, JR Vezain of Cowley took the event with 244 points.

"JR and I had talked before state finals and it was our goal to place first and second in the bareback riding," Madsen said.

To help keep his skills sharp, Madsen will compete in the Challenge of Champions rodeo this coming weekend along with several other rodeos in Wyoming.