“ It’s the broncs and the blood, it’s the steers and the mud, and they call the thing Rodeo.”  For the South Plains College Rodeo team, these words signify life.

Members of the 2004-2005 rodeo team include Nikki Bacon, Jenna Erickson, Casey Weerstra, Cody Heck, Chance Butterfield, Jenna Lucero, Brooklynn Chester, Kyle Anderson, Jake Mitchell, Zane Hankel, Sterling Via, Matt Cramblet, Cody Altman, Dustin Pool, Drew Mahaffey, James Lockhart, Brad Combs, Ross Coleman, Jacob Dickson, Kyle Kukla, Kelsey Garrison, Wendy Brooks, Tony Byers, Shawn Gray and Stefanie Smith.

The spring season has started for the Texan team.  They have had three events, with the team getting third overall in the men’s and women’s event at Snyder.

 “We are really strong in each event,” said SPC Rodeo Coach Josh Crow.

Smith leads the women’s team in breakaway roping.  “Many of the men on the Texan team have done well in each of their respective events,” Crow said. Zane Hankel and Chance Butterfield lead the team in bulldogging, while Jake Mitchell and James Lockhart have done extremely well in both the calf roping and team roping.  Lockhart was selected for the National Intercollegite Rodeo for team roping in the fall semester. Crow adds, “My entire group has done real well this year.”

Kelsey Garrison placed second in calf roping with a time of 17.6, Zane Hankel finished third in steer wrestling with a 9.9 second time.  Also, teammate Jake Mitchell, advance to the finals and placed seventh.  In team roping, Casey Weerstra finished first with a time of 11.8 seconds.  The Texan team of Sterling Via and Mitchell were fourth in 14.1 seconds.

The Texans finished with a total of 192.5 points to finish behind host West Texas A&M and Texas Tech.

As for the Lady Texans, Brooklyn Chester and Jenna Erickson finished third and fourth in goat tying with respective times of 16.0 and 16.6 seconds.

With four down and just two to go, Crow says Hankel and Butterfield, as well as some of the others, have a very good chance to go on to the National Finals Rodeo, which will be held June 12^th-June18^th in Casper Wyoming.

 “I would like to thank Mr. Jenkins for taking care of the teams live stock and making my job a lot easier,” said Crow.