MIDDLETOWN, Calif. – Gracie Pachie, a 12th grade student at Middletown High School, has earned a position on the California State National High School Rodeo Team.
She will be traveling with fellow teammates to Rock Springs, Wyo., July 12 to 18 to compete at the 67th annual National High School Rodeo Finals as the 2015-16 State High School Rodeo Queen.
Pachie, 16, has been riding since the age of 3. She spent many years being coached by Helen Owen of A-1 Horse Programs in Middletown.
As a junior high student, Pachie put all the coaching to practice when she officially joined the California Junior High School Rodeo Association in seventh grade. Pachie competed in barrel racing, pole bending, and goat tying.
After taking two years off, she decided to return to her rodeo roots by running for District 2 rodeo queen as well as competing in barrels and poles again. Unfortunately, a cross country injury sidelined both her running and goat tying career.
During her first state run for queen, Pachie was named first runner up, having won the horsemanship portion of competition, and also being named Miss Congeniality by her fellow competitors.
This past year, Pachie added cutting to her resume, and ran again for District 2 queen, always keeping her eye on the state title.
After three days of intense competition in Bishop, Calif., crowning of the 2015-16 queen was held on June 19.
Pachie had the honor of not only being crowned as state queen for the upcoming year, she did it with a bang.
Horsemanship, speech, modeling, impromptu question, personal interview, appearance and personality were the seven of eight categories Pachie swept on her way to the top title.
She is the first state queen in 15 years for the North Coast and District 2 of high school rodeo. The last title holder was Jamie Buckner of Lakeport in 2000.
Besides rodeo, Pachie is the Middletown FFA Chapter president, Middletown High School Mock Trial Team captain, associated student body vice president, handles AKC registered dogs and maintains a 3.97 GPA, all the while maintaining a full schedule of AP classes at Middletown High School.
She would like to attend San Diego State University to earn a degree in criminal justice, and a minor in psychology, with an eye towards becoming a parole officer.
The run for the national rodeo queen title will happen in mid-July.
Anyone who is interested in sponsoring Pachie for this opportunity can email her at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or message her on Facebook at Gracie Pachie Miss California High School Rodeo Queen 2015-2016 .