story by Riata Christiansen
The 2018 Champion All Around Cowboy for the Utah Junior High School Rodeo Association hails from the tiny town of Emery, Utah. The rodeo athlete competes in the saddle bronc steer riding, bareback steer riding, bull riding, team roping, goat tying, breakaway roping, and ribbon roping. Carving a path for himself, Byron Christiansen is a boy of many talents.
Byron has four siblings; McKoy, Riata, Korby, and Monty. His parents are Kirk and Mistie Christiansen, and as a family they spend nearly every weekend at a rodeo. They work their ranch together, running a heifer operation and training horses. Their home, Emery, is a great place to grow up and carry on the tradition of rodeo. Both of Byron’s parents competed in high school rodeo, and when the oldest, McKoy, started down that path the whole family followed.
Byron is an athlete in and out of the arena and has won several state wrestling titles. All four of the boys spend time honing their strength on the wrestling mat, coached by their dad. When it’s too cold to rodeo, the boys enjoy traveling to various tournaments and wrestling for their school teams. Byron is also a talented runner and skilled football player.
Recently, Byron had a very successful state finals rodeo. Qualifying in all seven of his events, the two days of rodeo were busy. Thanks to the help of his family and friends he was able to compete very well. He finished with fifteen buckles and two saddles, taking the state title for saddle bronc steer riding and all- around cowboy. He will now be preparing for the National Junior High School Finals Rodeo, where he will compete in the goat tying, bareback steer riding and saddle bronc steer riding. Byron is working hard with many goals in mind. He wants to become the National All-Around Cowboy, not only for the Jr. High division but all the way to the professional level.
One of his heroes is Chris LeDoux, due to his singing and riding ability. Byron is a talented musician, and frequently sings the national anthem at rodeos. He even sang and played guitar at his middle school graduation.
Byron lives by the saying, “Work hard, play harder”. It makes sense that his advice to rodeo rookies is to have fun. He knows that if you focus too much on winning you won’t go anywhere. He also knows that sometimes you must fail big before you can win big. Rodeo has taught him courage and given him the tools and tenacity to face his fears. One day Byron hopes to be remembered as a hardworking, big smiling cowboy with a lot of heart. That determination to succeed and positive attitude will carry Byron down the rodeo road to a lot of success.
