The high point of Evan Martin's rodeo career was finishing 65th at last year's National High School competition.

Now he's ready for more.

Martin, a junior at Slippery Rock High School, is leaving today for Gillette, Wyo., where this year's competition will take place starting Monday and concluding July 25.

The national rodeo scene impressed Martin last year.

"It was great," he said of the last year's event, held in Farmington, N.M. "Just being around it and learning from the other competitors was a good experience for me."

Evan's older brother Justin, 19, also competed at last year's event, finishing 109th in the nation.

The two have a younger brother, Logan, 14, who is also interested in the sport.

"It's a family thing," Evan said.

Martin qualified for this year's national event by finishing fourth at the state competition in steer wrestling, one of nine rodeo events to be contested next week in Wyoming.

The No. 4 ranking wasn't the product of just one competition. Martin has competed in more than 40 rodeos around the state over the last eight months to earn his spot at the national event.

So how does a teenager in Western Pennsylvania become interested in rodeo?

"A few of my friends were involved with it, and just watching my brother, I thought I'd give it a chance," Martin said.

That was two years ago.

Martin, now 16, picked up the sport rather quickly.

"I'm not going to say it was easy for me," he said. "But I really didn't have much of a problem learning the technique. I just became better and better at it with repetition. The more I did it, the better I got.

"The biggest thing for anybody that gets involved in rodeo is to have a positive attitude. And you can't be afraid if you want to be good at it," he said.

Martin practices at Tim Slater's rodeo arena in Karns City.

"There's not that many kids around here who are into rodeo," said Martin. "My younger brother and my dad come to the practices, along with some of my friends. And Tim helps me out a lot."

The National High School Finals Rodeo, which started in 1949, is the world's largest rodeo competition. It annually attracts as many as 1,500 competitors from the United States and Canada.

Martin is setting his sights high this year.

"My goal is to finish in the top 20," he said. "Last year, you had to get a total of 14 seconds total on two steers to be in the top 20, so I know what I have to do."