Foley Earns a First Place Finish at American Royal
By Carolyn Kaberline
December 11, 2009
Perry-Lecompton High School junior Kourtney Foley is hooked on speed—the kind of speed that comes from riding 1200 pounds of fleet-footed Quarter Horse, that is.
Kourtney, daughter of Greg and Jackie Foley of Lecompton, has been riding for almost as long as she can remember and competing in barrel racing and pole bending events since she was about eight years of age. To some extent she was following a family tradition as her father used to compete in bulldogging and team roping events at rodeos, and her older sister Kayla also ran barrels and poles.
In fact, Hitalic, the horse that Kourtney currently rides, was her sister’s until Kayla graduated from high school earlier this year and left for college.
Although Kourtney says that Hitalic is not the most sociable horse and comes with a host of bad habits, the one thing he can do and do well is run. In fact, his love of running has earned Kourtney a first place finish in barrel racing at this year’s American Royal Youth Invitational Rodeo.
“It was only open to high school students,” Kourtney explained. “We applied by filling out information on our accomplishments, our grades, involvement in the community and school, and such.”
Kourtney, a 4.0 student and a member of PLHS’s Future Community Leaders and Biology Club, had no trouble qualifying for the invitation. Once there she proceeded to win both the long-go for all competitors and the short-go for finalists, making her final run in a brief 14.4 seconds.
“It was amazing to win this event because of all of the supporting fans and friends who were there,” she said, adding that “it is great to have the accolades of being the American Royal Youth Barrel Racing Champion.”
Kourtney, who says she competes in about 50 rodeos and 25 to 30 barrel racing events per year, has previously qualified for the National Junior High Wrangler Division Rodeo Finals and is a two time National High School Rodeo Finals qualifier. In addition she was the Kansas State Reserve Champion Pole Bender in 2008 and placed third in pole bending at the state finals in 2009.
Future plans call for her to continue her rodeo career in college and to try some of the bigger rodeos and “perhaps even make the NFR (National Finals Rodeo).”
