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Rex Day - Sandall Photography

Meet the Member Rex Day

story by Ruth Nicolaus

Rex Day is in his last year of high school rodeo.
The Bartlett, Neb. cowboy, a member of the Nebraska High School Rodeo Association, is a senior, competing in the tie-down roping, team roping and steer wrestling.
Of his events, steer wrestling is his strength. “As of lately, I’ve developed into a better bulldogger,” he said. “That’s what I enjoy the most.” As soon as he and header Dane Pokorny are done with team roping practice, they switch to steer wrestling, with the help of Dane’s dad, Brad, a former steer wrestler.
Brad and Paula own the horse that Rex steer wrestles on. Shorty, a red roan, has carried many a bulldogger and has won a couple saddles doing it. Shorty is consistent, Rex said. “It’s almost that he knows what’s going to happen every run, before you do. He gives you the same shot, every time.”
Shorty is more than twenty years old, but he doesn’t let his age show, he said. “Some of the time he acts like a five-year-old. He’ll dang sure let you know he’s the king of the pen He’s the first to feed and asserts his dominance.” Shorty even bucks a little bit yet, like he’s enjoying what he’s doing. “Every once in a while, you’ll crawl off him (during a steer wrestling run), and as he runs down the pen, he’ll buck,” Rex said. “I guess he knows he’s having fun.” Two people have won state steer wrestling titles on Shorty: Rex’s older brother, Lane, in 2011, and Zane Patrick, who was co-champion in 2017.
For the tie-down roping, Rex rides a bay horse named Hector, and for the team roping, he rides an older red roan horse, who is “super broke, that I can do about anything on,” who can head or heel for him. The mare has two names: Roanie, when she’s being nice, and Princess, because sometimes “she can be a royal pain,” Rex said.
He loves being at school. As a senior at Wheeler Central Public School, he loves shop classes and has built a variety of things, including ranch items, like continuous fence panels, barn doors, panels, gates, “all kinds of things, whatever I can stay busy with.” He’s also used the plasma cutter to make signs, like ranch signs that are hung by the highway to show where people live, and school pride signs.
Rex likes all his classes, but the toughest might be English, just because he’s a hands-on kind of guy. “If I can touch it, I can do better at it.” In English, “it all runs together and gets boring.”
In school, he played football and is in FFA. He served as vice-president for two years; this year he is parliamentarian. He’s been on his chapter’s animal management team, which has qualified for state twice.
For fun, he loves to hunt deer, coyotes, and raccoons, and hanging out with friends. He and his buddies cruise the streets of Bartlett, which doesn’t take long, “all three” streets, he points out, laughing.
The best meal his mom makes is steak, medium rare, with a pat of butter on top, and a side of cheesy potatoes, washed down with iced tea or Mountain Dew.
His favorite trip was to Indianapolis in 2018, to the National FFA convention. It was his first time on an airplane, and while in Indy, they went to some cool places, like the Indianapolis Raceway and the state capital.
Rex will go to college this fall, either in Nebraska or Wyoming, and hopes to work towards being an electrician. He day works for other ranchers in the area and helps out on his family’s ranch, the Plus Seven, which was homesteaded by his grandpa, Lester Day.
In addition to Lane, his older brother, he has an older sister, Bailey, who teaches school in Humphrey, Neb. He is the son of Larry and Kaye Day.

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Nebraska High School Rodeo Association (NHSRA)

Standings

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September 20, 2020
Girls All Around
1 Madison Mills 3176.75
2 Brooke Mccully 2248.35
3 Elle Ravenscroft 2232.8
4 Wacey Day 2219.93
5 Clancy Jo Brown (R) 2068.18
6 Jessica Stevens 2060.55
7 Mekenna Fisher 1996.93
8 Faith Storer 1756.85
9 Emma Ohm 1720.71
10 Abigail Lawton 1577.7
Boys All Around
1 Cooper Bass 2348.35
2 Rhett Witt 2238.35
3 Zane Kreikemeier 1579.85
4 Cody Miller 1548.61
5 Sage Schrunk 1521.75
6 Tanner Drueke 1520.7
7 Jate Saults 1379.6
8 Coy Johnston 1225.65
9 Cole Kerner 1079.25
10 Sid Miller 1076.6
Bareback Riding
1 Tanner Drueke 73
2 Tate Miller 63
3 Cole Kerner 47
4 Spencer Denaeyer 46
Barrel Racing
1 Elle Ravenscroft 87
2 Taci Flinn 57
3 Brooke Mccully 57
4 Madison Mills 56
5 Jenae Whitaker 35
6 Bailey Bell 32
7 Ashlyn Henderson 30
8 Ashlyn Jensen 30
9 Mekenna Fisher 28
10 Morgan Rosander 28
Boys Cutting
1 Cooper Bass 81
2 Cody Miller 73.5
3 Tatum Olson 66
4 Hayden Jennings 63.5
5 Bo Bushhousen 60.5
6 Frazier Kaelin 56
7 Matt Symonds 54.5
8 Trey Vance 45
9 Devin Konicek 41.5
10 Hayden Stump 32.5
Breakaway Roping
1 Emma Ohm 49
2 Summer Richardson 38
3 Tehya From 38
4 Ali Vaughn 38
5 Wacey Day 37
6 Jaya Nelson 34
7 Jessica Stevens 27
8 Jace Hurlburt 24.5
9 Shayda Vaughn 24
10 Whitney Jennings 24
Bull Riding
1 Jett Sjeklocha 28
2 Cole Kerner 27.5
3 Dalton Garey 20
4 Tanner Drueke 19
5 Drew Farrell 10
6 Hunter Boydston 9.5
7 Brady Painter 9
8 Cooper Kursave 8
Girls Cutting
1 Faith Storer 112
2 Mekenna Fisher 99
3 Emma Pearson 74.5
4 Peyton Fisher 68
5 Gracyn Hicks 64
6 Whitney Jennings 62
7 Jenna Rutar 36.5
8 Jordan Downing 11
Goat Tying
1 Jessica Stevens 77
2 Wacey Day 68.5
3 Emma Ohm 56
4 Abigail Lawton 49
5 Kaci Wickersham 49
6 Ally Micheel 43.5
7 Ashlyn Henderson 43
8 Emma Warren 42
9 Kinley Greenough 39
10 Clancy Jo Brown 29.5
Pole Bending
1 Madison Mills 100
2 Clancy Jo Brown 65
3 Abigail Lawton 58
4 Jenae Whitaker 53
5 Emma Pearson 44
6 Lauren Lehl 34
7 Ashlyn Jensen 29
8 Brooke Mccully 28
9 Jordan Peterson 27
10 Elle Ravenscroft 24.5
Saddle Bronc
1 Brody Mcabee 60
2 Monte Bailey 30
3 Leif Meidell 19
4 Dean Schroder 9
Steer Wrestling
1 Rhett Witt 60
2 Dane Pokorny 50
3 Tucker Ravenscroft 46
4 Sage Schrunk 42
5 Coy Johnston 40
6 Thayne Kimbrough 39
7 Dalton Kunkee 35
8 Cody Miller 33
9 Gage Davis 33
10 Kaden Wooters 33
Team Roping
1 Jate Saults 58
2 Brent Charlton 52
3 Cooper Bass 43
4 Zack Bradley 43
5 Jasper Neal 38
6 Sage Dieter 38
7 Zane Kreikemeier 33
8 Coy Johnston 33
9 Ryan Shepherd 30
10 Carter Anderson 30
11 Sage Schrunk 30
12 Hayse Wetzel 30
13 Cinch Painter 28
14 Roper Wetzel 25
15 Chance Symons 23
Tie Down Roping
1 Rhett Witt 62
2 Zane Kreikemeier 56
3 Matthew Miller 50
4 Sid Miller 47
5 Tate Talkington 46
6 Layne Wallinger 43
7 Jate Saults 31
8 Sage Schrunk 30
9 Trace Travnicek 28
10 Carter Anderson 25

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