The UVU Rodeo Team competed in the College National Finals Rodeo in Casper, Wyoming from June 12-18, with Jaicee Bastian winning 10th overall in the nation in the goat tying event. This competition marks the first time since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic that the UVU Rodeo team has competed nationally.

“We have an exceptional rodeo program here at UVU,” rodeo program director Shane Draper said. “We have fantastic support from our administration to provide scholarships for these athletes, and we’ve had UVU represented at the College National Finals Rodeo every year since 2000, maybe even further back than that.”

“We came in and hit the ground running,” assistant program director Whitney Dansie said. “It's an awesome achievement given it’s our first full year coming back after COVID.”

UVU Rodeo athlete Jaicee Bastian took 10th place in the nation in the goat tying event. Widely considered one of the most difficult categories in rodeo, goat tying involves a rider on horseback racing down the arena, dismounting — often while the horse is still in motion — and catching a goat and tying its legs together, all while under the clock. The event requires speed, precision, and no small amount of skill with a rope.

“I'm super grateful for that last run,” Bastian said. “It was a good way to end it.”

Bastian said she has loved her time at UVU, especially her time as a student athlete while getting an education.

“It was probably the best three years of my life,” she said. “I had so much fun out there. The opportunities that I was able to have between the coaches and the school was just awesome.”

Both coach Draper and coach Dansie seek to instill in these athletes something that goes far beyond the rodeo arena.

The UVU Rodeo team at the College National Finals Rodeo.

“We try and instill being a good human being, being considerate, kind, thinking about others, and hard work,” Draper said. “Rodeo’s a part of it, but we want to prepare them for life, and not just in the arena. We want our students to be successful outside the arena as well.”

Coach Dansie participated as a rodeo athlete while a student here at UVU. For her, rodeo means something more than collegiate competition.

“Rodeo has helped me in so many aspects of my life,” Dansie said. “It allows me to be with my family, and it helped me get my education. My dad, he has a bunch of cattle, and so we grew up doing cowboy stuff all the time. It's fun to see my son going with grandpa and riding horses and gathering up the cows. He's like, ‘Yeah, I'm a real cowboy, ‘cause I do all the cowboy stuff.’ It's just something that's been in our family for a long time.”

The same lessons coach Draper teaches UVU athletes are the same lessons he teaches his family at home — and occasionally in the arena. Shane’s 14-year-old son Zandon is competing in the 2022 National Junior High School Finals Rodeo in Atlanta, Georgia as one of only four kids representing the state of Utah in this nationally renowned rodeo.

“I mean, it’s everything,” Draper said. “We have our family, but we have a rodeo family, too. To be honest, no one's getting rich doing rodeo, but we love the lifestyle. We love what it stands for. It's truly for the love of it.

“I want my kids to grow up with that, so that they can gain the rewards that come from it. There's a lot of failure that goes with it, but I want my kids to learn how to handle what life throws at you more than anything else. [Rodeo] prepares them for life.”