Rodeo life means thousands of miles and countless hours on the road, but it allows for ample time for reflection.

DeQuincy sophomore bull rider Ty LaVergne spent 15 hours and 1,000 miles from Shawnee, Oklahoma, to Rock Springs, Wyoming, thinking about his scoreless week at the International Finals Youth Rodeo. By the time he arrived at the National High School Finals Rodeo, he knew what he had to do and won his first high school national championship.

“I just knew I had to do my job,” LaVergne said.

The championship came down to the final round on Saturday at the Sweetwater Events Complex. LaVergne watched the other 19 short-go round qualifiers make a run at the title before he got his shot close 10 p.m. that evening. He needed 63.5 points, but left no doubt that he is one of the rising bull riders in the country with a career-best 87-point ride. After a couple of leaps right out of the game, the bull didn’t take it easy on LaVergne as he spun left away from his hand. He spun LaVergne round three times, but he held on for the highest-scoring ride of the week.

He didn’t show any nerves in his first NHSFR appearance and was the only bull rider to score 80-plus points in all three rounds. He won the first go-round with 86 points and was fifth in the second-go round with 80 points.

“It feels pretty good,” LaVergne said. “I had a lot of fun. “I drew really good (bulls) and executed. I drew to win.”

LaVergne finished with 253 points while runner-up Wyatt Bowman (Plain City, Utah) had 229.5 points. Carter Shaw of Haughton was third with 228 points.

LaVergne’s championship at the NHSFR is the first for a Louisiana cowboy or cowgirl since 2020, when Sulphur’s Kolby Stelly was the top bull rider and Josey Murphy won the breakaway title.

LaVergne and his older brother, Wyatt, each won state championships in May at the Louisiana High School Finals Rodeo at Burton Coliseum. LaVergne beat defending state champion Brennan Polito 126.4-102.25.

The elder LaVergne, the four-time defending Louisiana saddle bronc riding state champion, was looking to win his first NHSFR title, but got off to a rough start after his horse flipped over out of the chute in the first-go round and he was bucked off on his re-ride. He placed seventh in the second-go round at 75.5 but didn’t make the short-go round. Wyatt was named as the 2025 recipient of the 35th annual Lane Frost Memorial Scholarship of $4,000. He placed third at the IFYR the week before.

Also at the IFYR, Fisher Burnworth of DeQuincy won the bareback riding title with rides of 74, 78 and 83 points.

Sulphur’s William Gunter finished ninth in steer wrestling at the NHSFR with an aggregate time of 25.37 seconds. His top time was 5.25 seconds, the second-best time in the short-go round on Saturday. He placed third in the first-go round at 5.17 seconds before a 14.95-second time in the second-go round.