Students from colleges and universities across southeast Texas saddled up Thursday evening at the Nacogdoches County Expo Center for a weekend of roping and riding at the Stephen F. Austin State University Rodeo.
Lindsey Walters, a freshman at Hill College who was competing in the break-away roping event Thursday, said she was looking forward to the weekend rodeo and felt pretty good about doing well.
"You give it your all and hope for the best," she said. "You just be the fastest one out there and that's all that you can do."
In addition to break-away roping, Walters will compete in goat tying, team roping and barrel racing events Saturday morning.
Some of the rodeo events Thursday night included tie-down roping, saddle bronc riding, steer wrestling, barrel racing and bull riding, all of which will continue Friday and Saturday nights.
Emily Harper, rodeo advisor and head coach, said 10 contestants will perform in each category each day, with the remaining 300-plus participants competing in the slack competitions following the main rodeo tonight and at 9 a.m. Saturday.
Tie-down and girls' break-away roping slack competitions will be held Friday night, while barrel racing, team roping and girls' goat tying slack competitions will be Saturday morning, Harper said.
She said championship performances, which showcase the top 10 performers out of all the events, will be held Saturday night.
Harper said SFA is part of the southern intercollegiate rodeo region, which competes against students from Panola College in Carthage and Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, as well as several colleges in the southern part of the state.
"All the schools compete to determine the region champion for the year, and then after that, they take the top three of every region in the United States and they go to the national championship," she said, adding the SFA Rodeo is the third of five regional rodeos that will determine the region champions.
Gates open at 6 p.m. and rodeo events begin at 7 p.m. The rodeo will continue today and Saturday with repetitions of Friday's events. Tickets are $3 for college students from any university who bring their college identification and for children ages 3 to 12, and $5 for adults.
