I hear my name called as a man walks up, touching my leg."Number 237?" he asks. "You're on deck." Thebutterflies in my stomach become enormous and my breath very short.Yes, the adrenaline has hit.

I walk my horse up to the gate, run my hand up and down my string acouple of times, and nod in agreement with my dad, although I don'tunderstand what he's saying. I hear the fog horns going off wildly atthe other end of the arena as my age and accomplishments areannounced. My horse, Fives, prances and pulls on the reins as he alsobegins to feel the adrenaline.

I drop Fives his head and he takes off; I kick a couple of times sohe knows I'm serious. I begin to shift my weight to the left side ofmy saddle and slide my right foot out of the stirrup. Fives isrunning full speed straight ahead and, as I swing my right leg overand lower myself to the ground, I check him once, slowly andsteadily. When I feel him shorten his stride, I drop my reins, slidemy left foot out of the stirrup and step off.

I run toward the goat, straddle the rope, shorten my stride, place myfeet, flank him, tie him and call for my flag. As I call, I wonderwhy the flagger is staring at me. The fog horns are going crazy and Ican hear people screaming and applauding. I look up at the clock, andit finally hits me: I was a 7.4. A grin spreads across my face. Ipull imaginary guns out of the imaginary holster on my hip and shootthe goat I just tied. The crowd goes wild again, and the announcersays that I, Aaryn Wood, have just tied the fastest time of not onlythe second go-round but the entire finals.

This was my dream come true, to make my mark and let everybody knowwho I am. The best part is I did it at the world's largest rodeo, theNational High School Finals, and in my favorite event - Goat Tying.