FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, February 24, 2021
STEPHENVILLE, Texas — Tarleton State University’s rodeo teams are back in the saddle this weekend after a pandemic-related layoff of a year.
The men’s and women’s squads travel west for the 37th Annual Odessa College NIRA Rodeo, Thursday-Saturday, Feb. 25-27. Performances at the Ector County Coliseum begin at 7 p.m. each night.
With rodeo activities canceled during the ’20 spring season, teams in the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association’s Southwest Region will have six opportunities to accumulate enough points to qualify for the summer’s annual College National Finals Rodeo in Casper, Wyo.
Following the Odessa College-hosted rodeo, stops are scheduled in Levelland for the Eastern New Mexico University Rodeo, March 18-20; in Sweetwater for the Ranger College Rodeo, March 25-27; in Big Spring for the Howard College Rodeo, April 8-10; in Snyder for the Western Texas College Rodeo, April 15-17; and in Stephenville for the season-finale Tarleton Stampede, April 22-24.
The Tarleton men’s and women’s teams and 10 individual competitors qualified for the CNFR last year.
Leading Tarleton’s 2021 charge are last season’s CNFR qualifiers — team roping heeler Paden Bray, steer wrestlers Kyler Dick and Brett Stuart, barrel racers Timber Allenbrand and Caroline Kelly, and breakaway roper Taylor Schmidt.
For more information about Tarleton’s rodeo program, visit http://www.tarleton.edu/rodeo.
Tarleton, founding member of The Texas A&M University System, provides a student-focused, value-driven education marked by academic innovation and a dedication to transform today’s scholars into tomorrow’s leaders. It offers degree programs to more than 14,000 students at Stephenville, Fort Worth, Waco, Midlothian, RELLIS Academic Alliance in Bryan, and online, emphasizing real-world learning experiences that address societal needs while maintaining its core values of tradition, integrity, civility, excellence, leadership and service.
Contact: Phil Riddle
817-484-4415
[email protected]
