LYMAN — Corbyn Maxfield, Lyman, has the cool confidence to use his horse’s sprint, size up the head of the calf and set the rope flying to land and pull the calf to a screeching halt.

Maxfield, a seventh grade student at Lyman Invitational has earned a position on the Idaho state/provincial National Junior High rodeo team and will compete in Huron, S. D., June 24-30. As a member of the rodeo team, he and his fellow teammates will compete at the 14^th annual National Junior High Finals Rodeo. Maxfield will compete as a tie-down roper.

Maxfield will be one of roughly 1,000 contestants from 43 states, five Canadian Provinces, Australia and Mexico who will be competing at the NJHFR, which is the world’s largest junior high rodeo. The contestants will also be vying for more than $200,000 in college scholarships and the chance to be named a National Junior High Finals Rodeo World Champion. Scores on the first two rounds will determine if contestants advance to the final rounds Saturday evening. World champions will be determined, based on their three-round combined times/scores.

As a sidelight, Maxfield is in first place at the Evanston Rodeo Series in the Jr. Breakaway after the kickoff of this year’s rodeo series June 13-14.

As a tie-down roper, Maxfield is competing in an event, which can be traced back to the working ranches of the Old West. When calves were sick or injured, cowboys had to rope and immobilize them quickly for veterinary treatment. Ranch hands prided themselves on the speed with which they could rope and tie calves, and they soon turned their work into informal contests.

Maxfield started roping as a 10-year-old and now is 13. He broke his leg last year and missed one year of competition.

When asked what got him interested in roping, Maxfield responded, “My grandpa (Kelly Powers) always had a rope in his hands so I decided I wanted to start roping.”

And, to give him as adequate area to practice, which Maxfield does daily, Powers, Kinzie Maxfield’s dad, built Corbin a roping arena.

According to Maxfield’s mom, Kinzie Maxfield, her son competes in the Idaho arena. Idaho is divided into eight districts, and Corbin took first place in his district. This gave him a shot at the state finals on June 1-2, in which he took fourth. This served as the springboard for Corbin to saddle up and compete at the National Rodeo Finals next week as the top four contestants earn the ticket to the National finals.

Corbin is the son of Terry and Kinzie Maxfield of Lyman. He has been coached by Clint Hallam of Lyman, and according to Kinzie, Hallam is the one who has trained Corbin into the roper he is today. Corbin said he wanted to thank everyone who had helped him and especially Hallam for training him to rope.