National Champion Kayla Nelson Ready for Another Rodeo Season at UW |  
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By Megan Sabol
UW agricultural communications senior
Sept. 27, 2006 -- Kayla Nelson, a University of Wyoming student from Buffalo, S.D., credits her horse and 16 years of goat tying experience for her national championship at last summer's College National Finals Rodeo (CNFR).
Nelson, 22, a child development senior, became the Cowgirls' first national champion since Amy Shepperson of Midwest won the breakaway roping title in 1999. Nelson gives most of the credit to her horse, Santari, especially the way he performed at the CNFR.
"For being only seven and having just one year of goat tying training, he's worked exceptionally well; he was a huge contributor to my success at the CNFR," she says.
Like most competitors, the UW Rodeo Club team member started her career at a young age. When Nelson was six, her aunt Deb Ploszaj, a goat tying clinic instructor, started to teach her how to tie a goat dummy. Two years later she entered her first competition.
Nelson's mom, Susan, and dad, Wayne, also rodeoed at a young age and encouraged her every step of the way.
Nelson will lead a strong group of returning Cowgirls into the new season that begins this weekend at the Chadron State College rodeo Sept. 29-Oct. 1. The two other remaining fall rodeos are in Lamar, Colo., Oct. 6-8 and at Laramie County Community College in Cheyenne, Oct. 13-15.
"I expect our women's team to be strong and win the regional title again," she says. The Cowgirls lost only a few team members, but all four women who competed on last June's CNFR team will return. The four members of the fifth-place national women's team are Nelson, Nikki Steffes, Vale, S.D., molecular biology sophomore; Lori Amick, Wessington Springs, S.D., zoology senior; and Kari Mueller, Belgrade, Mont., kinesiology and health-athletic training senior.
Nelson nearly did not make last summer's four-member CNFR women's team.
In order to qualify for the CNFR, the competitors must be among the region's top three in their respective events, but Nelson finished sixth in the final regional goat tying standings. Because the UW women won the regional title, coach George Howard had the option to select who should represent the Cowgirls in the year-end event. He chose Nelson.
"It's a big comeback when you compete at the CNFR. It's a clean slate when you get there, so it doesn't matter if you qualified in that event or not," Nelson says.
Winning the CNFR goat tying championship was Nelson's most exciting win. She won many state titles in her high school career, but she has had bad luck by barely missing national titles at the high school and collegiate levels.
"It was fun to finally win," Nelson says. "Winning the CNFR title is like winning the professional National Finals Rodeo title. This is the end of the road for me in goat tying because the event is not offered on the professional level."
In the future, Nelson wants to be a co-instructor with her aunt at goat tying clinics to pass on what she has learned. Entering her final season at UW, the South Dakota native feels no added pressure to repeat her national title. Her main goal is to defend her title, but she says she just wants to concentrate on getting points for herself and the team as the Cowgirls attempt to repeat as regional champions and place higher at the 2007 CNFR.
Photo
Kayla Nelson of Buffalo, S.D., dismounts her horse at the 2006 College National Finals Rodeo at the Casper Events Center. Nelson, 22, a child development senior, became the Cowgirls' first national champion since Amy Shepperson of Midwest won the breakaway roping title in 1999. (Photo by Ryan Soderlin/Casper Star Tribune)
Posted on Wednesday, September 27, 2006
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