ALVA, Okla. – Emmett Edler has started the Central Plains Region season on fire, and he doesn’t seem to be cooling off anytime soon. Edler, who won the all-around championship in Manhattan, Kansas, to kickstart the campaign, won three titles this past weekend to lead Northwestern Oklahoma State University to the men’s team title at[...]

DUNCAN, Okla. – Cheyanne McCartney has found contentment out of a frustrating 2023 rodeo season. After three straight qualifications to the National Finals Breakaway Roping in Las Vegas, McCartney will not return to defend her aggregate championship at the South Point Equestrian Center. She will, however, be the No. 1 cowgirl heading to the Chisholm[...]

DUNCAN, Okla. – The aches and pains that Roper Kiesner felt were getting the better of him. He needed – and took – a break from the game of rodeo. He did that for more than a couple years before returning to action late in the 2023 season. Now at age 30, he’s at the[...]

HEMPSTEAD, Texas – In the 1989 Universal Studios’ movie “Field of Dreams,” Kevin Costner’s character heard the whispering echoes of the same phrase: “If you build it, they will come.” The Waller County Fair Board has had the same sound reverberating for years, and members of the organization have acted upon that. The upgrades for[...]

DUNCAN, Okla. – Since the inception of the PRCA’s circuit system 47 years ago, the Prairie Circuit has been a hotbed for steer wrestling. Not only are there some outstanding homegrown bulldoggers, but men from out of the area – and even out of the United States – make their way to the Oklahoma-Kansas-Nebraska region[...]

HEMPSTEAD, Texas – The popularity of the Waller County Fair and Rodeo concert series has only continued to blossom over the years. “We’ve been very lucky over the years to have people who are diligent in bringing in great concerts,” said Paul Shollar, president of the Waller County Fair Board. “We’ve had Cody Johnson here[...]

ALVA, Okla. – Jaci Traul put a little more student into her role as a student-athlete during her performance this past weekend at the Colby (Kansas) Community College rodeo. Traul took a cerebral approach to her job and came away with the breakaway roping championship. She roped her first calf in 2.5 seconds to finish[...]

HEMPSTEAD, Texas – The Waller County Fair Board is expanding the community’s annual exposition, and that means bigger opportunities for fairgoers at this year’s event. The Waller County Fair and Rodeo will begin Thursday, Sept. 26, and continue through Saturday, Oct. 5, at the Waller County Fairgrounds in Hempstead. It’s two days longer than years[...]

DUNCAN, Okla. – Much has changed since Allan Dessel worked his first Prairie Circuit Finals. That was in 2010, when the rodeo was in Park City, Kansas, and Dessel was teaching school in Soper, Oklahoma. In 14 years since, he has moved back to his native Iowa and operates a bookkeeping business, all while still[...]

SALT LAKE CITY – Orin Larsen is on the outside looking in. He’s qualified nine straight times for the National Finals Rodeo and entered this week of competition 16th on the money list; only the top 15 in the world standings in each event earn the right to play for the sport’s biggest pay this[...]