McVEYTOWN — Barrel racing is a simple but demanding sport: three barrels, one cloverleaf pattern, a single shot at perfection. The rest is arithmetic — a stopwatch, a list of names, a field of 137 riders at the Diamond 7 Arena, National Barrel Horse Association Pennsylvania State Finals, each chasing that fractional edge between triumph and the penalty that sends you home early.

On a September morning in Dillsburg, York County, Ava Neff found the formula.

What makes a champion in barrel racing isn’t raw speed or brute strength. It’s the calculus of control — how tightly you turn, how little ground you lose, how you coax the best out of a horse that trusts you completely.

For Neff, a teenager from McVeytown riding a gray mare named Goose, the numbers added up: a clean run, a flawless line and a time that stood up against the biggest field of the season. In a sport where five seconds for a tipped barrel can erase a year’s work, Neff’s win was both a personal milestone and a reminder of how precision and partnership still matter most.

What does it take to beat 136 riders and bring home a state title? Some would point to practice–hours spent in the arena running drills, working through slow patterns to build stamina, and watching film to shave tenths of a second off each turn. Neff sums it up in three words: “Practice, practice, practice.”

The barrel racing world has always rewarded repetition, not just raw talent. It’s as if the horses and riders who log the most unglamorous hours in the morning fog eventually find themselves under the brightest lights.

Yet, for all the focus on mechanics, the sport hinges on something harder to measure: trust between horse and rider. Neff rides Goose, an off-the-track appendix with a pedigree to match her personality. “Goose is 7. Her grandfather is Corona Cartel. We have been a team for four years now, and she loves her job. I wouldn’t be where I am today without her.”

There’s a sense, watching them together, that success is less about commands than conversation, a silent agreement at speed. You can’t fake that over 15 seconds of flying dirt and cheers.

Some of Neff’s first memories on horseback are tied to the National Barrel Horse Association. “Some of my mentors and trainers got me involved with NBHA. I have been competing since I was five-years-old.”

If longevity builds confidence, the numbers back her up. But even experience doesn’t guarantee a moment like this. The Pennsylvania NBHA State Finals are a magnet for the best in the region, drawing every kind of horse and every flavor of ambition. It’s the great equalizer–one pattern, one clock, everyone chasing the same hardware.

There’s always that one ride when everything clicks, when the training and hope compress into action. “Winning this title means a lot. I set goals for myself to win a saddle and run a 15.0 in this arena and accomplished them. This shows that my hard work and dedication have paid off.”

Set the goal, run the pattern, trust the process–a mantra that works as well in sports as it does anywhere else. But the margin is always thin. “During my runs, I think a lot. Mainly, I think clean, fast, safe. After I cleared the third barrel, all I could think was push.”

The technicals matter, too. Barrel racing doesn’t give out style points. Tip a barrel and you pay the price — five seconds tacked on for every mistake. Miss a barrel and you’re out. The best times are usually clustered within a second or two, so every misstep is magnified. At Diamond 7, with 137 riders in the Open 4D, the crowd saw more than talent–they saw a kind of stubborn math played out in real time.

How does the race actually work? Riders break from the alleyway, thunder across the line, and trace a cloverleaf pattern around three 55-gallon drums set in a triangle. It’s a single-timed run. No laps, no do-overs. The fastest run wins, or, in the NBHA’s divisional system, sets the brackets for the rest. The 4D format splits the field into four divisions, giving more riders a legitimate shot at a check, but the prestige still clings to the fastest ride.

Neff’s performance wasn’t luck. There’s no shortcut for the conditioning it takes to keep a horse like Goose sharp all summer. “Numerous drills and slow work to build strength and stamina,” she said. Each stride on race day is built on months of routine. And there’s the mental side. If you’ve ever watched a young rider shake off nerves before a run, you know how much pressure rides on a handful of seconds.

But every winner stands on someone else’s shoulders. “I would like to give a huge thank you to my support team: Lee and Brittany Comly, Daphne Shook, Doug Kerstetter and my family. My goal is to compete at Worlds next year in Georgia.”

Barrel racing has always been a family sport, from parents running the clock to friends holding the gate. The same goes for coaching, mentors, trainers, and friends who understand when to push and when to reassure.

For now, the number that matters is 136. That’s how many riders Neff outran at Diamond 7, a crowd big enough to fill most high school gyms in rural Pennsylvania. It’s not lost on anyone that only one horse and rider circle the arena carrying a saddle and a title. The rest leave with lessons–sometimes painful, sometimes hopeful, but always fuel for next year.

So what’s next for a local rider who’s scaled the state finals? In barrel racing, as in life, the pattern is both comfort and challenge. There’s always another run, another clock, another field.

But in McVeytown, the win will echo for a while — a reminder that in a world measured by seconds, effort and trust can still add up to something lasting. And for Ava Neff and Goose, the path ahead leads south to Georgia and the NBHA Worlds in October. If history is any guide, she’ll be ready.