above: KRPA member Kashly Schweer - Lone S Photography

Meet the Member – Kashly Schweer

By Magie Downares-Nevius

Two-time KPRA Finals qualifier, Kashly Schweer, walked away as the 2014 Finals all-around cowgirl after competing in double events and earning a fourth place position in the year-end all-around standings with over $3,600 in season winnings. Graded among some of the top competitors, Kashly leaves the box in the breakaway roping and the 40/40 team roping with heeling partner, Scott Vander Hamm. “Scott has really helped me with my roping and is the reason I was able to achieve the finals title,” Kashly said.
For four years prior to partnering with Scott, Kashly worked for her heeler during the summers, babysitting and exercising horses. Enhancing her talents with the help of her employer was a plus when the pair hit the arena to earn over $1800 throughout the season. However, Kashly was not a newbie when it came to rodeo. “I’ve been competing for as long as I can remember,” she said. Introduced to the sport through her parents (Mark and Jamie) and enriched by her older sisters (Dali, 29, and Leslie, 26), Kashly has progressed to a five-year membership within the KPRA. While Mark is a former bull rider and, later, moved to steer wrestling and team roping, Jamie was an all-around cowgirl, who moved to a spot on the Garden City Community College rodeo team. Their appetite to compete was then passed to their three girls, who all picked up breakaway roping and goat tying. “My sisters now live in northeast Texas, which leaves me to be the only family member to take to the KPRA at the moment,” Kashly said.
The 23-year-old cowgirl has excelled in the classroom in equal contrast to rodeoing. The CNFR qualifier competed on the Garden City Community College rodeo team for one year. While the women’s team had qualified, Kashly was in the running within the goat tying event. She then transferred to Oklahoma Panhandle State University, where she was a member of the rodeo team, but earned a double bachelor’s degree in Animal Science and Biology. “I’m a little bit of a nerd and like my school work,” she said. Her so-called nerdy personality has pushed Kashly toward a goal to work in the beef cattle industry and she is on a new path of earning a masters degree in Animal Breeding and Genetics. “I hope to help producers incorporate sound genetics into their operations,” Kashly said. As she attends graduate school at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, Kashly says that her rodeoing may slow down slightly. “I will get to go to co-approved rodeos while I’m at school and I hope to do well at the ones I can get to,” she said. “Hopefully, when school slows down, I can go back to rodeoing harder and get to the top of the standings to go back to the finals.”

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