By UNIVERSITY COMMUNICATIONS
The FHSU rodeo team began the season with big wins in their initial competitions, first in Manhattan and then in Colby.
Leading the way for the Tiger Rodeo Team was FHSU freshman Hailey Witte from Crookston, Neb. Witte is the most recent State High School Barrel Racing Champion from her home state and continued with her championship ways in Manhattan. She posted a sizzling 15.61 seconds to take an early lead in the first go-round and ended up placing third.
Witte came back for the Sunday Short-Go Championship Round, nearly tying her first run with a time of 15.64. Her overall performance in the aggregate placed her first overall for the weekend.
“For a freshman to raise up to the collegiate level and win in her debut performance is incredible,” said Coach Guy Forell. “I knew we were going to be well represented in the barrel racing this year. We had three barrel racers make it into the Top 12 Short Go at Manhattan, and I believe we’re going to see that with some regularity this year.”
Another freshman with a top performance at K-State was Abagail Olson from Sheridan, Wyo. Olson shook the whole battery of barrel racers in the first round with a smoking 15.52 run, easily winning round number one.
A knocked-over barrel in the short round took her out of the average at K-State but put everyone on notice that she will be a real threat this year. Abagail is the Reserve National High School Champion and a two-time state champion and competes in the three events of goat tying, breakaway roping, and the barrels.
“I am just so eager to see how this team performs this year. With the new freshmen and transfers, we are getting noticed, and this year will be an exciting time,” Forell said.
Senior Prairie Robbins from Brookville also made the Top 12 Short Go in the barrel racing, posting a time of 15.97 in the Long Go and a 16.45 in the Short Go, finishing with a ninth place finish overall out of 155 competitors. Two other FHSU competitors, Lexi Wooten from Udall and Kagan Davis from Purcell, Okla., were just out of the top 12.
In the steer wrestling event, former FHSU football player turned rodeo athlete from Devers, Tex., J.T. Jones hit a time of 4.8 seconds to win the first go-round of the big man’s event. The 6 foot 3-inch, 230-pound Jones is primarily a tie-down calf roper but uses his size and athleticism to wrestle steers as his second event.
“This guy is a beast, has no fear, and just attacks the steers like he did on the gridiron, and it makes for some great watching,” said Assistant Coach Trevor Meier. Jones was long in the Short Go with a time of 19.1 and finished tenth overall.
In the breakaway roping, Katherine Walker, a Dodge City Community College transfer student from Erie, Ill., clocked a time of 2.9 seconds in the first go, was 3.4 in the Short Go, and finished a strong fifth place overall out of 162 contestants entered in the breakaway event.
Following their initial rodeo, the team traveled to Colby this past weekend, Sept. 12-14, and continued their successful start to the season. Once again, Hailey Witte placed first in barrel racing, and J.T. Jones took first in tie down roping.
The FHSU Rodeo Team competes in the Central Plains College Rodeo Circuit, and after the first two rodeos of the season, the FHSU men are in ninth place out of fifteen competing teams, and the women are in fourth out of eleven.
Their next competition will be Sept. 26-28 at Southeastern Oklahoma State University in Durant, Okla.