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WORLAND - Worland's Buck and Trae Butterfield have qualified for the High School National Finals Rodeo.

To advance to the HSNFR, the Butterfield brothers had to place in the top four, of their respective events, at the Wyoming High School State Finals Rodeo June 9-11 in Douglas.

Buck Butterfield is the newly crowned state champion in bull riding, having scored 176.25 points. While Trae Butterfield finished third in both cutting and saddle broncs, scoring 206.75 points and 112 points, respectively.

For Buck Butterfield this will be his second trip to HSNFR and Trae's first.

"Last year at nationals I rode two tough nationally ranked bulls, got bucked off both and missed the short go," said Buck Butterfield, "This year I'm going to take it one bull at a time with the goal of making the short go and from there let the chips fall where they may."

As for Trae Butterfield, "I missed out on nationals last year and had to watch my brother compete, and it looked like a lot of fun. So the goal this year was to make it to nationals in at least one event and I made it in two, which I'm pretty excited about."

Two brothers competing in the same sport one could imagine how heated things could be but for Buck and Trae Butterfield they have a constructive sibling rivalry.

"We've always had the brotherly competition since junior rodeo. One would win a buckle, then the other would win one," said Trae Butterfield.

"It definitely helps," said Buck Butterfield about the sibling rivalry, "Even though rough stock and saddle broncs aren't a team thing, I could tell I started to run better once my brother started riding rough stock and saddle broncs. We were able to help each other behind the chutes and push each other to be better. Even with other riders it's not like most competitions. Behind the chutes we're all helping each other out and encouraging one another, because it's more of a competition against the stock than each other."

COURTESY/ Trae Butterfield

Trae Butterfield keeps focus during a saddle bronc run.

The Butterfields' success at state was a culmination of hard work and dedication, "It's takes a lot of hard practices, we go to rodeo schools and enter in amateur rodeos to keep getting better," said Trae Butterfield.

"We've put in a lot of time and hard work in to improving. You can't just show up thinking you're going to do well," said Buck Butterfield, "You need to be physically fit as well as mentally strong."

Gillette will host the HSNFR on July 17 – 23.