Meet the rodeo queen contestants

Special to the Times-Review

June 10, 2007 04:06 pm

— Five girls are competing for the title of queen of the 2007 Johnson County Sheriff’s Posse PRCA Rodeo.
The contestants — Emma Lewis, Kimberly Pritchett, Hailee Richard, Melissa Small and Devon Spradlin — range in age from 14 to 18.
They are judged on their rodeo knowledge, control, riding ability, poise and appearance and were required to attend the pancake breakfast Saturday morning at the Sheriff’s Posse Grounds on South Main Street in Cleburne. The breakfast raised money for the Johnson County Children’s Advocacy Center.
After the breakfast they were to ride a crane provided by Americrane in the rodeo parade. Americrane sponsors the queens contest.
A horsemanship competition takes place at 7 p.m. Monday in the indoor arena at the Sheriff’s Posse Grounds. It is open to the public.
The girls are judged on a reigning pattern, and then each girl will have an individual interview with the judges.
The girls will continue to be judged each night of the rodeo. The horsemanship competition winner and the rodeo queen will be announced Saturday during the final performance of the rodeo.
Current Queen Wimberly Coder represents the Sheriff’s Posse Rodeo next week in San Antonio at the Miss Rodeo Texas Teen Pageant.

Emma Lewis
Emma Lewis, 17, is the daughter of Jay and Shauna Lewis of Cleburne. She is sponsored by Lee’s Western Wear in Joshua and is a graduate of Brazos River Charter School. She will attend Hill College and Texas Tech University. She was first runner-up in last year’s Sheriff’s Posse queens contest and received the Judge’s Merit Awards in the 2006 North Texas Fair and Rodeo queen’s contest. She has earned the Reserve High Point Award at the San Antonio Stock Show. Emma attends Field Street Baptist Church and participates in North Texas High School Rodeo and Johnson County play days.

Kimberly Pritchett
Kimberly Pritchett, 14, is the daughter of Cheryl Pritchett and Tom and Kellee Pritchett. She is sponsored by 731 Farm Store. She will be a sophomore at Joshua High School in the fall and is in the top 5 percent of her class. She is the Joshua Rodeo Team queen and an officer in the Joshua FFA Chapter. Her hobbies include riding and training horses, raising show lambs, hunting, fishing and water sports. She has been riding horses since she learned to walk and enjoys teaching riding. Her ambition is to attend Texas A&M University and major in equine science. After college she wants to be a mounted police officer for the National Park Service.

Hailee Richard
Hailee Richard, 15, is the daughter of Bob and Lee Ann Richard of Burleson. She is sponsored by the Cleburne Sports Clinic. Hailee would like to give a special thanks to Rob and Pam Orr for their support. She attends Joshua High School and will be a sophomore this next school year. Hailee’s best friend is her horse Fancy. Hailee loves rodeo and team sports. She competes in pole bending, barrel racing and goat tying. She also enjoys showing horses in the Stock Horse of Texas Association. She is active in FFA and loves to run cross-country track and play soccer. She also loves to sing.

Melissa Small
Melissa Small, 17, is the daughter of Jessie and Jacque Small of Cleburne. She is sponsored by Lee’s Products. Melissa is a senior at Chisholm Trail Academy in Keene. She has won multiple reserve championships for the Johnson County Junior Sheriff’s Posse. She plays varsity basketball and softball. She is on her school’s student association board for 2006-07. Her hobbies include barrel racing, pole bending, racing dirt-track cars, four-wheeling and hanging out with her friends.

Devon Spradlin
Devon Spradlin, 18, is the daughter of Terry and Jane Spradlin of Keene. She is sponsored by Wash Depot. Devon is a senior at Chisholm Trail Academy in Keene. She placed second in the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo Artfair contest and has always enjoyed participating in play days in Johnson County. She also enjoys any outdoor sport, especially four-wheeling, fishing and barrel racing.