Brandon Beers of Powell Butte leads a group of eight young cowboys and cowgirls from Central Oregon who have qualified for this week’s National High School Finals Rodeo.

The 55th annual event, which is billed as ”The World’s Largest Rodeo” by the National High School Rodeo Association, takes place at McGee Park in Farmington, N.M.

More than 1,500 contestants representing 39 states, five Canadian provinces and the continent of Australia, are scheduled to participate in this year’s rodeo, said Kyle Partain, a spokesman for the NHSRA.

Rodeo competition is scheduled to begin on Monday morning.

Beers is making his third consecutive appearance at the NHSFR.

The senior-to-be at Prineville’s Crook County High School has qualified for nationals in three events: team roping, calf roping and cutting horse.

Beers shared the team roping championship at this year’s Oregon High School Rodeo Association State Finals, held last month in Klamath Falls, with Mitch Coleman of Molalla.

Two other Oregon state champions from the local area expected to make the trip to New Mexico for nationals are Kelsey Johnson of Redmond in girls cutting horse and Colleen Kingsbury of Prineville in barrel racing.

Central Oregon qualifiers scheduled to compete with Team Oregon at the NHSFR by event are:

– Boys Cutting – Sean Santucci, Prineville; Brandon Beers, Powell Butte.

– Girls Cutting – Kelsey Johnson, Redmond; Jackie Rhoden, Prineville.

– Bareback Riding – Tony Buckman, Bend.

– Breakaway Roping – Tara Smith, Redmond.

– Steer Wrestling – Sean Santucci, Prineville.

– Team Roping – Brandon Beers, Powell Butte.

– Calf Roping – Brandon Beers, Powell Butte.

– Barrel Racing – Colleen Kingsbury, Prineville; Sammy Jo Willis, Terrebonne.

Many of the Central Oregon entrants are members of the Prineville-based Crook County High School Rodeo Team or the Redmond-based Central Oregon High School Rodeo Team.

To qualify for nationals, competitors had to finish among the top four in their respective event based on the final year-end points standings in Oregon High School Rodeo Association events.

Two performances are scheduled each day at the NHSFR, starting Monday and continuing through Saturday. The first go-round will be completed Wednesday night, and the second go-round is scheduled to conclude Saturday night.

The NHSFR will crown national champions during its Final Go-Round Performance next Sunday afternoon.