HAVRE — Following a fall season where four rodeos took place, the MSU-Northern men and women both sit at third in the Big Sky Region standings with spring competition beginning this weekend in Bozeman.
Ranked athletes Brittney Cox, Georgia Orahood and team roping duo Preston Bird and Chance Three Irons all said they want to start the spring right in what is an important rodeo.
"You don't show up to the rodeo to be timid," Cox said Tuesday at the Great Northern Fairgrounds. "You show up there to lay it all out there, and you didn't practice all that time just to be kind of timid about everything. Just got to go after it."
"It's like one of the most exciting rodeos we can go to," Orahood said of the Bozeman stop. "Everybody's there. It's so loud, and it reminds me a lot of the pro rodeos we get to go to."
"This weekend, go and knock down four steers, and place in every one," Bird said.
"Go out there and make simple runs, clean runs," Three Irons said. "Make everything look simple."
MSU-Northern head coach Doug Kallenberger also called Bozeman's spring rodeo important, and said it has a great atmosphere.
"That's the one rodeo in our region that we feel is comparable to the college finals," Kallenberger said. "If you can block it out and get it done in Bozeman, you can block it out and get it done at the college finals."
Cox and Orahood — who held a one-night arena record in breakaway roping at the Montana Circuit Finals this past January — both have been to the collegiate finals.
For Cox — currently the second-ranked barrel racer in the region — she said it's helpful that she already knows what it takes to achieve that.
"I won the region once before, and so I kind of know what the process is and what you have to do to kind of get that mentality going," Cox said. "And I have two great horses coming up, so I'm really excited."
Orahood is looking to get back in to the swing of things in breakaway since she said her main horse was injured in the fall. She is currently ranked ninth in goat tying, but said now that her hose is back healthy, she wants to make the college finals even more.
"I want to make it top three, I think that would be pretty cool for the team," Orahood said. " "And just showing (her horse's) talent, because he's a really cool horse."
Kallenberger said he thinks the team as a whole has a lot of potential for this spring to do big things.
"I really feel like we can win the region," Kallenberger said. "We've won individual titles and we concentrate on that. If you get it done individually, the team will follow. And the men's team is not far off this year either.
"Our goal is for the women's team to win the championship this year, and our men's team to get there."
The Lights and Skylights hit the road for the Montana State Spring Rodeo at Brick Breeden Fieldhouse between Thursday and Sunday in Bozeman.
