By Con Marshall
The Chadron State College rodeo will be a week earlier than usual this year. The new dates are Friday, Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 6-8 at the Dawes County Fairgrounds. During the past 10 or so years, the CSC rodeo has been the second weekend in September, but it will be the first weekend this year.
About 500 contestants, about the same as usual, from the 12 schools in the Central Rocky Mountain Region will be competing.
CSC Rodeo Coach Lane Day said his team has about 35 members and should be competitive. The action will begin with slack at 1 p.m. Friday, Sept. 6. Another session of slack, many of them barrel racers, will start at 8 a.m. Saturday.
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.
Cowboy church will be at 8 a.m. Sunday in the Grandstand at the fairgrounds. More details will be forthcoming on all of the activities.
The rodeo will be the primary sports event in Chadron that weekend. The CSC football team will have hosted the Jamestown Jimmies from North Dakota on Thursday evening, the CSC volleyball team will be opening its season at a classic in California and the high school teams also will be out-of-town.
The Cardinals’ volleyball team will visit Gordon-Rushville on Thursday night, the football team will play at Valentine on Friday night and the softball team will be playing in a tournament in McCook on Saturday.