Rodeo History

The roots of rodeo run deep at Mid-Plains Community College. In fact, the history of the sport dates back further than the college, itself.

The first rodeo club associated with the college launched in North Platte shortly after the inception of North Platte Junior College in 1965. McCook Community College also started a rodeo club and hosted its first rodeo in 1970. The competition became an annual event.

The clubs continued as separate entities following the merger of the two colleges in 1973 into what would eventually become Mid-Plains Community College.

MAKING A RETURN

The sport took a hiatus at MPCC in the mid ’80s – reemerging in 2010 as the Mid-Plains Community College Rodeo Club. Although designated as area-wide, members were initially based in North Platte.

The club was approved by the MPCC Board of Governors in June and became official July 1. The college hosted a “meet and greet” for the new coach, acclaimed rodeo competitor Bernie Boeser, in September of that year. The college’s automotive instructor, Mike Janecek, was named club adviser/assistant coach.

Former world champion bull rider Dustin Elliott signed on to lead the club in 2013. The MPCC Rodeo Club hosted its first competition, the Rail Town USA College Rodeo, at the Wild West Arena in North Platte that same year and also sent its first competitor to the College National Finals Rodeo - bull rider Tyler Viers entered the CNFR as the regional champion.

2014-15 Season

His success propelled the sport forward and helped influence the MPCC Board of Governors’ decision to vote the club in as a full-fledged athletic team for the 2014-15 academic year. Among other things, the designation allowed coaches to offer scholarships as a recruitment tool.

In the fall of 2014, the team gained another celebrity coach in the form of National Finals Rodeo qualifier Garrett Nokes who became the new assistant. His job would eventually transform into timed event coach, and Elliott’s would morph into roughstock coach.

With the hiring of Nokes, Janecek stepped back into more of a volunteer role. He continues to volunteer his time and efforts to support the MPCC Rodeo program to this day.

2015-16 Season

By the 2015-16 season, MPCC had four contestants to send to the CNFR: Rowdy Moon, Trey Engel, Ethan Lesiak and Reece Weber. Engel claimed the regional bull riding championship ahead of nationals, Moon was second in the bareback riding and Lesiak and Weber were third in the bull riding and team roping, respectively. Lesiak finished 12th in the nation in the bull riding.

2016-17 Season

MPCC Rodeo hit another milestone during the 2016-17 season – entering the CNFR as the No. 1 men’s team in the Great Plains Region. Mid-Plains also led the region in a handful of individual events: Rowdy Moon sat at the top of the leaderboard as bareback riding champion, Garrett Wickett was the top regional bull rider and Chandler Comfort led the team roping. Altogether, MPCC sent seven to nationals where Comfort ended up fifth.

2017-18 Season

Mid-Plains was represented at the CNFR by a record number of contestants following the 2017-18 season. They included the first woman qualifier for MPCC, Mykelsi Schnose in breakaway, as well as Wickett who was named regional bull riding champ for the second time.

2018-19 Season

Danielle Wray was the only woman, and one of seven MPCC Rodeo Team members to qualify for the CNFR during the 2018-19 season. She went into nationals as the No. 1 header in the Great Plains Region.

The points she earned contributed to MPCC’s overall third place regional ranking in the women’s team standings. Mid-Plains was second in the region in the men’s team standings for the second year in a row.

2019-20 Season

MPCC Rodeo’s competition schedule was cut in half for the 2019-20 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which wiped out spring events. The CNFR was also canceled that year as a precaution. Had it been allowed to continue, Mid-Plains would have had seven qualifiers.

Wray would have been one of them as the back-to-back regional champion in the team roping header category. Despite the disruption, MPCC’s men’s team ended the season second in the region with 3,035 points. The women’s team was third in the region with 848 total points.

The MPCC Rodeo Team also gained a new assistant coach in the summer of 2020. Aukai Kaai, a former bull rider for the team, assumed the title July 1. He took over for Elliott and was given the task of developing the roughstock competitors while Nokes was named head coach with a continued focus on timed events.

Nokes was named Coach of the Year for the Great Plains Region following the end of the season. The honor was voted on by coaches and captains from every team in the region. It was the first time Nokes received the recognition.

2020-21 Season

When Nokes passed away in February of 2021 following a horse-related accident, Kaai was left as the team’s only coach.

Team members rallied that spring – competing to honor Nokes’ memory. They ended the season as the men’s team regional champs and sent six to nationals.

Individually, Koby Jacobson topped the regional leaderboard in bull riding and Zane Patrick led the pack as regional champion steer wrestler. Patrick also qualified for the CNFR in team roping. He was one of three contestants representing MPCC in the national arena in two events that year. Wray also made a return to Casper in the team roping.

Nokes was honored posthumously as Great Plains Region Coach of the Year for the second year in a row. He also received the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association Coach of the Year title and the President’s Award from McCook Community College. The team as a whole was recognized for having the region’s Rodeo of the Year with the MPCC Stampede.

In May, PRCA cowboy Wyatt Clark was hired to take over Nokes’ timed event responsibilities. He brought with him over 20 years of rodeo competition experience.

2021-22 Season

Jacobson returned made a return to nationals for MPCC in 2022. He joined teammates, Jacob Haren (tie-down and team roping) and Jentri Hurlburt and Barrett Schlieker (team roping). The team later gained a qualifier in Quade Potter, of Stockville, who represented Mid-Plains in the steer wrestling.

2022-23 Season

MPCC sent two to the CNFR following the 2022-23 season: Kaden Wooters and Maggie Underhill. Wooters ended up 14th in the average in the steer wrestling while Underhill finished 18th in the barrel racing average. The top 20 times in her event were separated by mere hundredths of a second.

Also at the CNFR, MPCC Rodeo Team member Dalton Kunkee was honored with a $1,000 Stan Harter Memorial Scholarship Award.

Coaches Clark and Kaai accepted a plaque at the Coaches Breakfast recognizing the MPCC Stampede as the Great Plains Region’s Rodeo of the Year for the second time in three years.