credit – Pratt Community College
The Pratt Community College rodeo team is more than two-thirds of the way through the 2014-2015 season, a year that has brought many changes to the program.
The rodeo team is currently seeking a full time men’s and women’s head coach. The coach will organize, instruct and promote the team, as well as recruit for the next year. If the coach has experience in farrier science, they will also take over coordination and instruction of that program. The search is nationwide search and PCC hopes to announce a new coach by the first week of April.
During the search, Rocky Patterson has taken over as interim head coach (pictured). Patterson is a three time World Champion Steer Roper, most recently in 2012, and a former head coach of the PCC rodeo program in the 90s. As a student, Patterson rodeoed at Allen Community College and Oklahoma Panhandle State University.
Daine McNenny is a current member of the rodeo team and will step us as interim assistant rodeo coach. McNenny is a sophomore from Sturgis, S.D. and competes in team roping, calf roping and steer wrestling.
Lori Montgomery is head of the agriculture program which oversees the rodeo program and remains enthusiastic about the outlook for the remainder of the season.
“Our athletes are staying strong and pushing hard into the last string of rodeos on the road to nationals,” she said. “Rocky and Daine are great additions to our program, and practices are going really well.”
In December, PCC announced they would not be hosting a National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association rodeo in fall of 2015 in order to reexamine how to execute the rodeo in the future. The decision to take a year off was based on factors including the high cost of producing the event, staffing challenges and the state of the PCC facilities, said PCC President Michael Calvert.
For the 2015-2016 season, the students will continue to compete at all 10 rodeos in the Central Plains Region as usual, keeping them eligible for the College National Finals Rodeo in Casper, Wyo.
Pratt is one of only eight colleges or universities to offer a rodeo program in the state of Kansas and recently celebrated 45 years with the program.
