It only took 24.2 seconds in total for a Barrhead native to etch his name into the record book.
On Saturday, June 13, Kolton Schmidt, along with his partner Sawyer Barham, defeated their closest rivals by a total of 1.4 seconds to become the National College team roping champions.
The pair won the title, representing Southeastern Oklahoma State University, at the College National Finals Rodeo (CNFR) in Casper, Wyoming. The competition pitted close to 400 of the best college and university athletes in sports such as bareback riding, tie-down roping, breakaway roping, saddle bronc riding, steer wrestling, goat tying, team roping, barrel racing and bull riding.
In the team roping event a steer is released from the chute and a team of two ropers, both on horses, attempt to rope the steer which is running loose in the rodeo arena.
The first roper, known as a header, ropes the front of the steer, usually around its horns, but sometimes as low as its neck. Once the steer is caught the header then wraps his or her rope around the horn on his saddle and then uses his horse to turn the steer to its left. While the header is doing this the heeler attempts to rope both of the steer’s back feet. Schmidt is the header on his team.
“It is just an incredible feeling to have won the CNFR,” he said. “It is the biggest deal for the level we are at, the best guys in the nation are there.”
Schmidt said he is also honoured to be the first Canadian ever to win the team roping event at the CNFR.
“We have a lot of great Canadians competing in rodeo, including a good buddy of mine, Clay Elliot, who won the bronc riding this year, but I’m the first one in team roping.”
Schmidt and his partner performed well all week at the CNFR. In the preliminary runs the duo recorded times of 5.1, 6.7 and 6.2 respectively.
As for how Schmidt got into the sport of rodeo, he said he really didn’t have a choice. He comes from a long line of rodeo people.
“My grandpa, Leonard Schmidt, my dad and his brothers are all into rodeo. It is something our family has always done, so I guess it’s in our blood,” he said, adding that the reason he chose to go to university in the southern United States, wasn’t because of the education or the rodeo.
“It snows too much to go to school in Canada,” he joked. “So I thought I would find a school in a place that is a little bit warmer. That’s how I ended up in Oklahoma.”
Currently, Schmidt just completed his first year at Southeastern Oklahoma State University on a rodeo scholarship, after transferring from Western Oklahoma Jr.
When he is not busy with his studies, Schmidt is a communications major, the majority of his time is spent competing or travelling to rodeos.
When the Barrhead Leader contacted Schmidt, he was in a motel room in Reno, Nevada, where he was competing in the team roping event as a header, with a new partner, Dustin Searcy.
He said it can be tough trying to fit school in with the rodeo season. The college season consists of 10 rodeos, five in the fall and five in the spring and then there is the professional rodeo circuit.
Unlike the other college sports, athletes are allowed to compete professionally and still maintain their university eligibility.
“There are 75 professional rodeos, that is the max we can do, and I am trying to hit everyone of them,” he said, adding although it is a hectic schedule he wouldn’t change it for the world.
Schmidt doesn’t really have a choice, rodeo is in his blood.
