story by Ruth Nicolaus
Competing in the trap and rifle shooting in the Utah High School Rodeo Association has opened doors for Mason Jones.
The Nephi, Utah athlete is the first of his family to compete in rodeo. He grew up shooting rifles, starting with a Cricket .22 when he was three or four years old.
A broken neck caused from football when he was a sophomore had him looking for a different sport. Doctors told him he couldn’t play any contact sports, and the former basketball, baseball and football player was looking for something to do.
So it was in his junior year of high school that the eighteen year old cowboy decided to try high school rodeo. “Rifle (competition) was neat,” he said, “because I didn’t fit into the rodeo scene, and it was my way in. Now I do a lot of the ranching and rodeo thing.”
As a senior at Juab High School, Mason enjoys his classes that are hands-on, including his metals class. He has built a saddle rack, a shooting target, a calf puller, and a goat roping chute that he and a friend sold. He is involved in FFA and is a member of the HOPE4Utah chapter. He has earned his Eagle Scout Award, with his service project the creation of eight trash cans for the high school parking lot. He and his dad built the trash cans from fifty-gallon drums, with cement in the bottom of them so they are immobile.
Mason is left-handed but shoots a right handed gun. He grew up with a right-handed gun, in part because of the expense of buying a left-handed one, and has taught himself to use the right hander.
After high school, he plans on starting an apprenticeship to be an electrician. Some day he’d like to live on his own farm with cattle and horses.
Mason qualified for state in the rifle shooting last year and competed at Silver State as well, where he did both rifle and trap, and finished sixth in trap.
He has two older brothers: Dylan and Brady, and an older sister, Megan.
He is the son of Russ and Diane Jones.
