story by Lily Weinacht
Willcox, Arizona, native Sherrick Sanborn won both rounds and the GCPRA incentive in the tie-down roping at his first GCPRA finals in November. This is the 17-year-old’s first full season competing in the GCPRA, and he loves the opportunity to compete in larger rodeos. “Durango is really cool — it’s a big rodeo with a lot of good ropers — and I like Sonoita too. It was the very first Grand Canyon rodeo I went to and I won the incentive there. The finals was a cool experience, and I learned what I need to do to get better.”
Sherrick has also competed on the national level at the NHSFR the last two years. He qualified in the tie-down roping and long-rifle shooting his sophomore year, and the shooting again this last summer. “My family’s done rodeo forever. My dad did the Grand Canyon rodeos, and I’ve junior rodeoed ever since I was old enough. This last year I had horse issues, and I was thinking about just playing baseball instead, but I made it to Nationals again in the shooting, and a friend of mine and his dad let me borrow a horse to rope on all summer. That changed my mind and made me realize I really love it and it’s something I never want to give up. Having a little success this last summer made me want to keep doing it.”
Along with tie-down roping, Sherrick competes in team roping as a header and steer wrestling in the AHSRA, but tie-down roping is a firm favorite. “It’s the first big event I made it to the high school finals in, and it’s what my dad did.” This year, Sherrick will compete in all three events in the GCPRA as well, and he’s working with Joseph Parsons at his roping school. “The list of people who have helped me is big, but I want to thank the Kiblers for allowing me to practice at night under their lights, and Colter Todd for helping me with roping and life in general. Cody Resor has stock for me to rope on, and I thank my Aunt Lisa and my grandparents, Darlene and Jerry Sanborn, for letting me ride their horses. And I want to thank my other grandparents, Mary and Denzil Farbo, for feeding when I’m gone.”
While rodeo is a family-wide sport for the Sanborns, Sherrick’s parents, Clint “Howdy” and Amy Sanborn, are focused more on getting Sherrick and his brother, Bridger, to their rodeos these days. Clint competes occasionally in the GCPRA and ropes with his sons and Amy competed in the WPRA in breakaway and tie-down roping. Bridger is a freshman in the AHSRA, competing in the same events as Sherrick. Sherrick hauls his horses to the Kiblers’ arena to practice, and he competes on Lola, Berry, and Wilma and Fanny, who came from his Aunt Lisa.
A senior at Willcox High School, Sherrick enjoys studying any era of history, and appreciates how his weights class helps him in rodeo, such as flanking calves and dogging steers. He is the current FFA president of his chapter and showed pigs at his fair in September, while he also plays baseball year round through his school and a baseball club. “It was a tough decision to choose between college rodeo and college baseball, but after this summer, I had to choose rodeo,” says Sherrick. “Rodeo and baseball are completely different sports, but there’s a lot that is the same, like hand–eye coordination and the mental part of it.”
Sherrick’s focus now is earning college scholarships and leading his baseball team back to state championships. “I’ll be in the open in the GCPRA, and I want to make the finals in calf roping, steer wrestling, and hopefully team roping. I’m trying to win a state title in the calf roping for high school rodeo, then I want to go to Nationals and at least place in the top 20, and prepare for college rodeo.”
