Rodeo Team Members Ready for National Finals
June 5, 2013
Women's team won its first national championship in school history last year.
Shelby Janssen will compete in the barrel racing event.
A foursome of Texas Tech students are hoping history will repeat itself.
The university’s women’s rodeo team is on its way to compete in the 65th annual College National Finals Rodeo June 9-15 in Casper, Wyo. The team made school history last summer, winning its first national championship at the College National Finals Rodeo.
Members of the women’s team include Taylor Langdon, barrels, a senior exercise sports major from Aubrey; Shelby Janssen, barrels, a junior general studies major from Austin, Minn.; Carley Richardson, barrels, a senior animal and food sciences-nursing major from Pampa; and Traci Bailey, goat tying, a junior agriculture education major from Centerville, Wash.
“About 55 teams across the nation out of about 200 institutions that have college rodeo teams will be in attendance,” said Chris Guay, Texas Tech’s rodeo coach, who is retiring after this trip.
“Students will be at home or actually traveling to rodeos each week competing on the way up to Wyoming,” Guay said. “They will arrive in Casper on June 6.”
Carley Richardson also will compete in barrel racing.
Guay will join them on Saturday.
Texas Tech men individual qualifiers for the national finals rodeo include Garrett Hale, a junior agriculture and applied economics major from Snyder, competing in calf roping; and Zach Peterson, an agriculture and applied economics major from Afton, Iowa, competing in bull riding.
Guay said they will be in good shape to do very well. He said all six students have been competing at non-sanctioned rodeos to keep their competitive spirit alert.
“They have been doing lots of conditioning with horses, and Zach Peterson is ready for the bull riding,” Guay said. “I hope they win it all. A team championship would be nice and a few single-event national championships are always a plus.”
Guay is retiring from coaching after 20 years, including four with Wharton County Junior College, to train horses and spend much more time with his own kids. “I am really excited about life after rodeo,” Guay said. “It would be a fun way to end my career seeing the guys and girls doing well.”
Texas Tech’s men’s rodeo team won the university’s first national championship in 1955.
Animal and Food Sciences
The Department of Animal and Food Sciences is housed within the College of Agricultural Sciences & Natural Resources.
In 2004, Animal and Food Sciences moved into a new state-of-the-art teaching and research facility. This new facility includes four multimedia-classrooms, five specialized teaching & research labs, the largest retail meat cooler on a university campus, and a retail store (COWamongus).
The department's Equestrian Center is home to Texas Tech's champion Ranch Horse Team, Rodeo Team, Equestrian Team, Therapeutic Riding Center and a 4-H Youth group.
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Rodeo Team Members Qualify for National Finals