story by Ruth Nicolaus
Every day, Cheyanna Hayes drives by the road sign that inspired her name.
When she was born seventeen years ago, her mother loved the name of the town of Cheyenne, Wyo., and wanted to name her daughter after it. So she took the name and added the a’s to make it sound more feminine and unique.
And now, as she goes to school each day, she passes the sign on Interstate 80 that points to the town she is named after, 419 miles to the northeast.
Cheyanna, a member of the Utah High School Rodeo Association, competes in the barrel racing, pole bending and rifle shooting.
She is a senior at Rowland Hall-St. Mark’s School in Salt Lake City, where she loves being with her friends and her computer programming class. She is a member of the school’s robotics club and is vice-president of her town’s National Charity League chapter, a mother/daughter organization that focuses on volunteerism. Cheyanna and her mom often help with the animal adoption shelter, and she enjoys her charity work. “It’s a really satisfying feeling to know you helped a little bit and you’ve done some good.”
Cheyanna began her equine experience in the English discipline, and switched to Western riding when she was eight years old. She used to do a lot of English competition, but got hooked on the adrenaline and speed of barrel racing.
Before she began her focus on rodeo, she was a slalom ski racer. She competed in the Junior Olympics in 2014 and 2015.
She finished fourteenth in the state last year in the barrel
racing.
Cheyanna has an older step-sister, Alex Lindsay, and an older step-brother, Jordan Lindsay.
She is the daughter of Mtich and Margee Lindsay and Chuck Hayes.
