Swenson making waves as freshman in rodeo spotlight

She enjoys it that way, even if it means long hours on the road — traveling in the family truck across 25 states so far on the rodeo trail — and plenty of time spent away from her friends back in eastern Montana.

“I love my friends and everything, but I would probably choose my horses over my friends nine times out of 10,” Swenson said.

But when you’re as bright of a young star on the Montana high school rodeo scene (and beyond) as Swenson is, can you really blame her?

Piling up accolades left and right in a budding rodeo career that began when she was a 3-year-old, Swenson, just a freshman, has trophy buckles and saddles on her mind in her debut appearance at the Montana High School Rodeo Association’s Montana High School Rodeo Finals.

Entering Thursday’s first go-round as the top-ranked athlete in the state’s all-around cowgirl standings, Swenson is in pursuit of being the state’s most versatile cowgirl. A busy five-event schedule this season featuring barrel racing, breakaway roping, goat tying, pole bending, and team roping (with brother AJ Swenson) has helped with that, as did prior experience competing — and winning — against some of the best cowgirls around at the junior high level.

With three more years of high school rodeo left to go, Swenson may very well just be getting started in turning heads across the Montana rodeo scene.

“It’s a lot different than junior high was, because I need to be on my game 24/7 to be able to compete with all these other incredible girls,” Swenson said. “It has raised my game like 1,000%.

“I’ll feel like I made a good, decent run, and then the eight girls after me just come in there and beat me. That just gives me a good (motivation to) go back to the practice pen (and) work harder so that I can be up there with them.”

Swenson had already accumulated seven years of experience in the rodeo world by the time that she was 10, which was also the same age that her mother pulled her and her brother aside and asked if they loved the sport to the point of pursuing a full-time rodeo schedule going forward.

That question got an enthusiastic yes from the kids, and the Swensons have been chasing dreams on the dirt ever since.

Aspen had a decorated junior high career, punctuated by winning the junior girls all-around world title at last year’s National Little Britches Rodeo Finals in Guthrie, Oklahoma. Formerly a student in the Huntley Project school district, Aspen additionally turned to homeschooling in order to find extra time to travel down to Arizona to practice her skills in the winter.

Her former school friends still keep in touch and hang out with her when she’s back in the Huntley area, Swenson said, while the connections she’s made in the state’s rodeo community have simultaneously never been stronger. She’s seen plenty of familiar faces in Kalispell this week, she noted, finding fierce competitors in the arena and great friends and memories away from it.

“I’m surrounded by a great group of friends and they’re just incredible and they cheer me on no matter what,” Swenson said. “Unfortunately, half of them live across the state, so I don’t see them very often, but they support me all the time.