Instead of heading West for a summer vacation, an Austin High School student is heading West to compete in the National High School Finals Rodeo in Farmington, New Mexico from July 20 to July 26.

Mitchell Morem, who will be a junior at AHS this fall, advanced to compete in steer wrestling and team roping.

This will be Morem’s first appearance at the NHSFR, although he qualified for the Wrangler Division two years ago — he didn’t make the trip.

He almost didn’t make the trip this year as skyrocketing gas prices hindered the Morem’s from making the trek. But in the end, they decided to go.

“He was very excited to go and so were his siblings,” Mitchell’s mother, Mel Morem said. “We canceled our summer vacation and Mitch chipped in, since he has been working for his dad all summer.”

While out West, Mitchell will focus on steer wrestling as that is his favorite event. He took to it quite early as a youngster, even though he didn’t always have a steer to practice with.

“When he was about 10 years old, he would pretend his sisters’ barrels for barrel racing were steers and he would practice roping on them,” Mel Morem said. “We figured we’d better get him some real experience before he hurt himself. So we took him to some clinics in Texas.”

After that, Mitchell started competing in the Minnesota High School Rodeo Association and he was leading the state in steer wrestling this year after six rodeos in the spring and five last fall. But he missed his calf a couple times at the state finals and slid down.

“It was kind a bummer, but some days you win and some days you don’t,” Mel Morem said.

Mitchell still accumulated enough points to advance to the national finals by being in the state’s top four — which was difficult since he doesn’t get that much live practice. Mel Morem said it’s hard to find local people to practice with and a lot of Mitchell’s work is done by himself.

His team roping partner, Ben O’Brien, is from Cambridge, Minn.

Mitchell will compete in steer wrestling Tuesday morning and Thursday afternoon and he will compete in team roping Tuesday morning and Thursday afternoon.

The NHSFR features 1,500 contestants from over 41 states, five Canadian Provinces, and Australia. It is the world’s largest rodeo.

In addition to competing for over $200,000 in prizes, NHSFR contestants will be vying for more than $325,000 in college scholarships and the chance to be named NHSFR Champion.

To follow the action, visit www.nhsra.org