By Con Marshall
As usual, the Chadron State College rodeo will kick off the schedule in the Central Rocky Mountain Region at the Dawes County Fairgrounds on Friday, September 6 through Sunday, September 8. There will be plenty of action as nearly 500 contestants from the 12 schools in the Central Rocky Mountain Region will be competing.
The primary performances will be at 7 o’clock Friday and Saturday evenings, followed by the championship go-round at 10 a.m. Sunday featuring the top 10 contestants in each event from the earlier sessions.
Because there will be so many cowboys and cowgirls competing, there also will be two lengthy sessions of slack that are open to the public without charge. They will begin at 1 p.m. Friday and 8 a.m. Saturday.
This year’s Chadron State team includes 16 women and 17 men. A majority of them are from Nebraska and South Dakota. Lane Day, a former CSC cowboy now in his third year as the team’s head coach, believes this year’s team has strong potential.
“We’ve got both some proven juniors and seniors and some newcomers who have joined us after having good high school rodeo careers,” Day noted. “They’re a good group. Last year, our cumulative grade point average was just shy of 3.6. I’m proud of them.”
The rough stock will be supplied again by the Muddy Creek Pro Rodeo at Scenic, S.D. The timed-events cattle will come from Mundorf Land and Cattle, which is headquartered in Oklahoma.
Sugar Rey Quinn of Rapid City will be the announcer. Former CSC bareback rider Rowdy Moon will be the bullfighter and two more ex-CSC contestants, Justin Kissack and Colton Storer, will be the pickup men for the bronc riding.
Cowboy (and Cowgirl) Church will begin at 8 a.m. Sunday in the grandstand at the fairgrounds.