Submitted photo National Rodeo Champ John Young has local grandfather and great-grandparents.

IOWA – A national youth rodeo champion has very local roots.

High school freshman John Young will be on the Iowa high school rodeo team and will head to the 60th Annual National High School Rodeo in Farmington, New Mexico, in July. Young will compete in bull riding.

Young is the son of James and Alison Young of Orient, Iowa, grandson of Oroville’s Rod Stucker and great-grandson of Jack and Mert VanBrunt of Tonasket.

He is the Iowa High School Bull Riding Champion, a title received in Fort Madison, Iowa, on June 15 when he won a trophy saddle and chaps donated by U.S. Rodeo Supply and a trophy belt buckle. He is a three-time Wrangler Division National Qualifier and is ranked in the top 10 nationally as a youth bull rider. He was also crowned the Junior Bull Riders of America Extreme tour champion for the state of Iowa.

The Farmington Rodeo will have about 1,500 contestants.

Young also is a member of his high school football and wrestling teams.