Meet the Member Joe Stoddard
story by Lillian Landreth Many a high school rodeo athlete has been shaped by Joe Stoddard’s contributions to the sport, from his blood relations to […]
Jaicee Williams at the 2018 SDHSRA State Finals - Cowboy Images
story by Lily Weinacht
Jaicee Williams of Wall, South Dakota, won the breakaway roping at the Wall regional rodeo in early June. A recent graduate from Wall High School, the 18-year-old has her eye on a qualification to the NHSFR in the event to cap off her senior year. She qualified for the NJHFR in goat tying, and continues to tie goats and barrel race in high school as well. “Both my parents were involved in rodeo their whole lives, and it’s been my whole life,” says Jaicee. “The social aspect of it is the biggest part to me. I always get to meet new people, and go to new places and have new experiences, and that means a lot to me. My favorite rodeo is probably state finals because at region rodeos you only get to see friends from the region. But at state you get to see everyone and all your buddies.”
While she enjoys all three of her events equally, breakaway roping is particularly special to Jaicee. Her mom, Stephanie, passed away several years ago and was an avid team roper and breakaway roper. “My mom started me on breakaway and it means a lot to me that she did that,” says Jaicee. She also looks up to her grandpa Greg Anderson. “We’d go rope with him and he’d tune us up. He’s an awesome roper and super intense, so it’s more pressure in the practice pen than in the actual arena,” Jaicee says with a laugh. “He always knows exactly what we’re doing wrong and doing right, and he’s super supportive. He definitely helped put the love of roping in me.”
Jaicee travels to rodeos with her dad, Marty, and younger brother, Stran, who will start high school rodeo this fall. Marty roped and steer wrestled in college. He hauls Jaicee and Stran to all of their rodeos and even for practice in Wall when their own arena was under water this spring. “If Dad’s driving, we have a jam session,” says Jaicee. “Old rock hits are his favorites, so we know a lot of those.”
In tow are Jaicee’s two main horses, Turbo and Derby. “Turbo used to be an all-around horse, but I changed him over to my breakaway and goat horse. My brother started on him and then I took him over, and I’ve used him my whole high school career. Derby is my mom’s horse and I inherited her when she passed away. She was her barrel project, and she’s doing really awesome. She’s really smart and it’s been fun training her.”
Jaicee graduated from Wall High School in May as valedictorian of her class, and spoke at graduation along with two other students. “We talked about living in the moment, and we talked about a memory of each classmate—we had a class of 18,” Jaicee explains. She played basketball and volleyball all four years of high school and ran track for a year as well, while she’s attending Black Hills State University this August on an academic scholarship. She’s considering college rodeo in the future, but plans to compete in the SDRA and college jackpots for now and focus on her academics during the school year. One of her ideas is to major in accountancy so she can establish a tax firm in Wall, since the next closest firm is an hour away.
In between working two jobs cleaning and waitressing, Jaicee hopes to go boating with her dad and spend time with friends this summer before going to college. She’s also working hard toward qualifying for the NHSFR. “I’m feeling really confident that if I compete at state like I did in Wall, it will go well.”
story by Lillian Landreth Many a high school rodeo athlete has been shaped by Joe Stoddard’s contributions to the sport, from his blood relations to […]
story by Lillian Landreth Thayne Elshere represented South Dakota and his family’s favorite event of saddle bronc riding at the 2022 NHSFR this summer, where […]
Story By Lillian Landreth Isabel Risse stepped off her horse Princess and flanked her goat, tying her way to third place in the nation at […]
Mailing Address: PO Box 303
Baltic, SD 57003
Email: sdhsra@alliancecom.net
Visit Our Website
TERMS:
Rodeo Newstm (ISSN 1934-5224) is published 12 times a year, semi-monthly May-Nov; once in Dec Jan, Feb., March, and April by Publication Printers, 2001 S. Platte River Drive, Denver, Colo., 80223. Iris Ink, Inc., parent company of Rodeo News is located at 3604 WCR 54G, Laporte, Colo., 80535. Subscriptions are $30 per year. Periodicals postage paid at LaPorte, Colo., and additional mailing offices.
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Rodeo News, PO Box 842, LaPorte, Colo., 80535.
Canada Post (CPC) publication #40798037. Material in this publication may not be reproduced in any form without permission. Rodeo News carries advertising and editorials as a service to the readers. However, publication of advertisements and editorials in Rodeo News does not commit Rodeo News to agree with or guarantee any of the merchandise or livestock advertised.
SDHSRA PRACTICE RODEOS:
RODEO DATE ENTRY DEADLINE LOCATION
April 23-25 2021 April 12 New Underwood (at Rapid City)
April 30, May 1-2, 2021 April 15 Triple Crown Rodeos-Burke, Geddes
April 30 & May 1 Burke
May 2nd Geddes Rodeo
May 7, 8, 2021 Three Rivers Challenge – Kadoka, Wall, Philip
May 7, 2021 April 19 Kadoka 1 & 2
May 8, 2021 April 19 Philip (at Wall)
May 8, 2021 April 20 Wall
May 9, 2021 Call in Entries May 2, 3, see entry form for details Faith
May 28, 2021 May 20 White River
May 22, 2021 May 10 Martin 1 & 2
May 29, 2021 May 14 Timber Lake
May 29-30, 2021 May 21 Oelrichs 1 and 2
May 31, 2021 May 21 Clark
May 31, 2021 May 13 Lemmon
All Entry Forms can be found at sdhsra.com, forms, entry forms
REGIONAL QUALIFYING RODEOS:
Entry deadlines April 15th *YOU MUST CHECK IN BY CHECK IN TIME OR STOCK WILL NOT BE DRAWN FOR YOU!
June 4-6, 2021 Huron, Highmore, Wall, Buffalo
June 11-13, 2021 Watertown, Winner, Sturgis, Dupree
JUNE 15-19 – STATE FINALS RODEO – STANLEY COUNTY FAIRGROUNDS, FT PIERRE, SD
See sdhsra.com, rodeos, state finals, for detailed schedule and qualifier information. Schedule will be updated if there are schedule changes. You are entered unless you call and say you will not be coming, please do this immediately
*Queen Contest
see sdhsra.com, rodeos, state finals
JUNE 20, 2021, 8:30 AM CDT,
Mandatory NATIONAL QUALIFIER Awards Ceremony and National Meeting
JULY 18-24, 2021 –
NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL FINALS RODEO, LINCOLN, NE
***New or Revised Entry information for rescheduled and postponed rodeos is on sdhsra.com, schedule. If any doubt – call that Rodeo Secretary before you enter***