Large belt buckles accent their fitted blue jeans.

Wide-brimmed hats keep the sun from their eyes, making it easier to rope and ride with Wisconsin’s — and the nation’s — best. Oh, and by the way, they prefer to be called cowgirls.

Jenna Johnson, Bailey Kyser and Danna Jessie, all Melrose-Mindoro High School students, recently completed their 2006-07 Wisconsin High School Rodeo season with a trip to the National High School Finals Rodeo July 22-28 in Springfield, Ill.

“Nationals weren’t very nerve-wracking,” said Johnson, 17, of Mindoro. “It’s all the rodeos leading up to it that get you.”

The girls qualified for the annual competition by earning points during the Wisconsin High School Rodeo’s 2006-07 season.

They traveled to Wisconsin communities Mineral Point, Arcadia, Lancaster, Medford and Holmen and Dubuque, Iowa, before ending their season at the state finals in Richland Center, where they competed in their choice of events.

“Your hard work pays off,” Jessie said. “If you don’t work hard, you don’t get better and you don’t do good.”

Kyser, 16, of Cataract,Wis., said she enjoys barrel racing, breakaway roping and goat tying, but pole bending with Jocey, an 8-year-old brown and white paint, is her favorite.

“It’s just a challenge,”she said. “You have to do more work, and you and the horse have to have a good time.”

Kyser won pole bending competitions at spring rodeos in Dubuque and Arcadia and was awarded the Jackie Balsley Memorial Scholarship for her fastest time at the Wisconsin high school rodeo finals. She finished second in the state.

Kyser said she did “OK” at the national competition after tripping on her first go around on poles.

Jessie, of Melrose, prefers breakaway roping over the barrel racing, pole bending, team roping and goat tying she regularly competes in. “I’m the best at it and it’s more fun for me than the rest,” the 16 year old said.

At nationals Jessie competed in breakaway roping and “did all right,” she said. “I wish I would have done better, but I missed my first go.”

Jessie and her quarter horse, Roc, performed well at the state finals, placing fourth overall and claiming the fastest time for the weekend in breakaway roping.

Johnson competes in barrel racing and pole bending, and qualified to go to nationals in poles after capturing the state champion title for the third consecutive year on her 7-year-old gelding Eddie.

She finished 102 overall in Springfield after she “knocked” her first go.

“It was fun there (at nationals), but I didn’t compete as well as I had hoped,” Johnson said.

And after a bad ride, Johnson said, it’s easy to see there is much more to rodeo than the events.

“People at rodeo are always really nice,”Kyser said. “Everyone there would help anyone do well.”