SWEETHEART OF THE RODEO
Brandi Whittle is first Cattle Call Queen since 2016
BRAWLEY — For the first time in two years, the Cattle Call Rodeo has a reigning queen.
It was 16-year-old Brandi Whittle who took the honor Saturday night at the Lions Center here.
Whittle, 16, is a junior at Brawley Union High School and the daughter of Denise Whittle. In addition to being named Queen, Brandi won contests for horsemanship and personality. The runner-up, 17-year-old Lydia Jackson, won an appearance award.
The Cattle Call Queen contest had previously been the purview of the Brawley Chamber of Commerce, but it relinquished the contest last year into the hands of the newly formed Brawley Cattle Call Queen Royalty Association. That decision resulted in there being no contest in 2017, and thus no queen for the first time in the rodeo’s history.
This year, 11 girls ranging in age from 6 to 17 competed in only one of four categories: Cattle Call Queen, Teen Queen, Junior Queen and Little Miss.
This year’s Teen Queen was 14-yearold Rylee Locher, a freshman at Imperial High School and the daughter of John and Tami Locher.
Junior Queen honors went to Chyenne Cox. She is the 10-year-old daughter of Larry and Tracy Cox of Imperial and is a fifth-grader at Ben Hulse Elementary School.
Little Miss was 9-year-old Kalysta Lopez.