Northern student crowned Miss Rodeo Montana

Laramie Pursley will represent Montana at the Miss Rodeo America pageant in Las Vegas after being coronated Sunday.

Jaye Dee Han, the Miss Rodeo Montana director, said Pursley did a great job at the pageant and deserves the title.

“It’s really exciting,” Han said. “She’ll travel all over the nation. Anywhere and everywhere there’s a rodeo in Montana, we try to get her to go there.”

Pursley is pursuing her degree in agriculture operations technology at Montana State University-Northern and rides with the university’s rodeo team. She has been Miss Great Northern Rodeo since July and she holds a temporary, part-time job at Torgerson’s in Havre that will be finished by the time the intensive part of her touring begins.

Pursley said she became interested in competing in pageants when she was at last year’s pageant and Alyson Grinestraff, Miss Rodeo Montana 2013, told her they were looking for girls to compete and that she should give it a try.

“I did, and that’s what I want to do for future queens,” Pursley said. “Tell them to try.”

Pursley said she will be busiest in the summer, at the peak of rodeo season.

“It’ll be great to travel and see the country,” Pursley said. “I’ll be able to travel out of state some, but I’m looking forward to all the rodeos in Montana.”

Han said she and the other organizers of the Miss Rodeo Montana suggest Miss Rodeo Montanas do not go to school or work so they may devote their time and energy to representing Montana at the rodeos.

“Queening is a lot of time, a lot of energy,” Han said. “They are going constantly, especially in the summer.”

Pursley said at the rodeos, she will be carrying the flags, clearing the arena and going to schools to talk to children, as well as promoting the rodeo.

“It’ll be a really busy year,” Pursley said. “I’m really looking forward to it.”

Pursley will have a fundraising gala in Chinook in order to get the money to allow her to attend rodeos and pay for expenses.

Miss Rodeo Montana 2010 was Han’s daughter, Jourdan Han, who was able to raise $20,000 at her gala, Han said.

Han said Pursley is going to have a “fast and furious year” attending rodeos, “Queen clinics” and other events.

Queen clinics are essentially workshops where pageant contestants can hone the skills needed to become successful in pageants.

“The clinic will go over interviews, horsemanship – everything we need to know about the Miss Rodeo America pageant,” Pursley said.

Han said she tries to run Montana’s pageant with the same rules and regulations as the Miss Rodeo America pageant so contestants are not surprised when they compete in it.

The pageant is similar to a beauty pageant in that competitors are judged on their appearance, personality and projection, but contestants’ talents are in horsemanship and rodeo riding.

There are five categories contestants are judged in, Han said. Even though Pursley was the only contestant in the Miss Rodeo competition, she still had to score 80 percent in the categories to be considered for coronation.

Han said she and the organizers of Miss Rodeo Montana have been trying to push for the competition to have a bigger presence in the state, especially since the Miss Rodeo America competition is a big deal.

“It’s kind of sad,” Han said about having one competitor in this year’s Miss Rodeo. Last year’s competition saw but one competitor as well.

The categories are: horsemanship, appearance, personality/projection, most photogenic and speech. Contestants must also complete a written test in horsemanship, but this is only used in the event of a tie.

“She was subjected to doing the entire pageant,” Han said.

Miss Teen Rodeo Montana was also chosen at the pageant and saw more competitors. Talli Carmalt of Kalispell won the competition.

The teen section is for girls 14 to 18. Queen contestants must be 19 to 24.

The Miss Rodeo America pageant is held in Las Vegas every December at the National Finals Rodeo.

“It’s quite a nice pageant — fast and furious for 10 days,” Han said.