Lively Lake loving rodeo

These are happy times for Polson’s Nichole Lake.

She’s always smiling, has a positive outlook and is enjoying athletic success on and off the basketball and volleyball court at Polson High School.

She’s also an extremely confident young lady.

All those things are working in her favor this week as she looks for another successful go at the Montana High School Rodeo Finals.

Just like she has all season long, the slender 5-foot-10, 17-year-old senior to be is competing in three events at the Rodeo Finals, which began Tuesday at Majestic Valley Arena.

She was one of seven competitors to enter state with the maximum number of points (70 for seven rodeos) in goat tying.

She was 11th in the standings in barrel racing.

She’s also entered in breakaway roping.

On Thursday she had the fifth-best time in goat tying (8.46 seconds) and ninth best go in breakaway roping (3.19).

That put her in serious contention in both events.

However she struggled a little in barrel racing (18.30). That was good for 26th place.

She has some time to make up in that event.

State ends today with the short go, or championship round, beginning at 11 a.m.

Lake competed in the National High School Rodeo Finals last year in breakaway roping.

“Didn’t do very well,” she said of Nationals.

“But I won state. I was second in the year-end standings.”

That was the good news.

She almost qualified for Nationals in goat tying, placing fifth at state. The top four advance to the NHSRF, this year to be held in Rock Springs, Wyoming, July 12-18.

“It’s kind of my bread and butter,” Lake said of goat tying.

“My favorite event. My horse enjoys it.”

Ellie, a buckskin quarter horse who turns 15 this month, helped her make it to the Junior High National Finals Rodeo in Gallup, New Mexico as an eighth grader in goat tying.

“I made it back to the short go (championship round),” she said.

“I ended up 15th.

“I would have liked to place higher, but I was happy I made it back to the short go.”

Lake also competes with Ellie in breakaway roping.

“I trained her to goat tie,” Lake said.

“She does well in both of them. She does her job really well.”

And that’s half the battle.

“There are so many things you can’t control like the ground, weather and the stock you draw,” she said.

“You just have to do the best you can on that day. Sometimes everything doesn’t come together.”

And since she is competing in three events, the faster you can put that one bad ride behind you, the better off you are.

“You have to get over it fast,” she said.

“You can’t let that carry over to the other events.”

Lake says maintaining a cool demeanor is just as important.

“Try not to pressure up,” she said.

“Goat tying and breakaway roping are mental games for me.”

Being a perfectionist often leads to some challenging moments for her.

“I wanna do it until I do it right and my runs are smooth,” she said.

“I beat myself up a lot (when things don’t go as planned sometimes). Nobody likes to do bad, especially when you know you can do better.”

She competes with Baby, a sorrel quarter horse, in barrels. Baby will be 9 years old.

“Just started running her about a year,” Lake said.

“She’s starting to click.”

Lake’s equine experience began with western pleasure. Equestrian and jumping horses at Rebecca Farm followed.

“My mom didn’t want me to rodeo,” she said.

“It was something she did not want her kids to do. That’s why we started in equestrian. It was a lot of fun.”

Her mother Lorrie, competed at the College National Finals Rodeo her freshman year at the University of Montana.

“But my sister started to barrel race when I was 10,” Lake said.

“So then I started to barrel race with her.”

Her sister Rebecca competed in college rodeo at the University of Great Falls.

“She did pretty well,” Nichole said.

“Her life went in a different direction so rodeo got put back on the top shelf.”

Nichole has no plans to shelve her rodeo career, just yet. She has her sights set on another trip to Nationals this summer. Maybe this time in two events — breakaway roping and calf roping.

She also has another prep season to deal with next year followed by college and perhaps a trip to the College National Finals Rodeo. That’s what she’s aiming for.