Jay Em native to compete in CNFR

Erick Starkey
Posted 6/6/18

CASPER – Kaylee Smith, a native to Jay Em, qualified to compete in the College National Finals Rodeo in Casper for the goat tying event as a member of the Oklahoma Panhandle State University rodeo team.

Smith sat third in the Central Plains regional standings at the end of the rodeo season with 715 points and the top-three in each event earned a spot at the CNFR. She had a stellar fall season, including a first-place finish at Colby Community College and a second-place finish at Southeastern Oklahoma State University. In the third rodeo of the fall, she finished sixth.

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Jay Em native to compete in CNFR

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CASPER – Kaylee Smith, a native to Jay Em, qualified to compete in the College National Finals Rodeo in Casper for the goat tying event as a member of the Oklahoma Panhandle State University rodeo team.
Smith sat third in the Central Plains regional standings at the end of the rodeo season with 715 points and the top-three in each event earned a spot at the CNFR. She had a stellar fall season, including a first-place finish at Colby Community College and a second-place finish at Southeastern Oklahoma State University. In the third rodeo of the fall, she finished sixth.
“I had a really good fall rodeo season,” Smith said. “This spring, overall, I was happy with it. I was able to come out of the gutter and do well.”
Part of the problem in the spring was two injuries she had to deal with. She had a strained hip flexor and a strained quad muscle that limited her practice time and forced her to fight through the pain during competitions. Despite the injury, she still finished first twice this spring, winning at the Southwestern Oklahoma State University and Fort Hays State University’s rodeos.

“It was one of those, you got to do what you got to do,” Smith said of her injuries, which she hopes will not cause issues in Casper. “It was only seven seconds and then you can take care of it and ice it.”
This is the first time that Smith has earned a spot at the CNFR, despite being a junior. She went to class and rodeoed for Vernon College in Vernon, Texas her first two years, before starting to compete for OPSU. In addition to dealing with her injuries, Smith, who took 21 credit hours this spring, said her coursework was another obstacle she had to overcome to punch her ticket to Casper for the first time.
“It’s hard. Rodeo kids have to drive ourselves and find somewhere in between to get Wi-Fi and do our homework,” Smith said. “It made for long days and even longer nights.”
With the hurdles she had to get over in the rearview mirror and her spot at the Casper Events Center reserved, Smith has her eyes focused on Casper. She is no stranger to the big stage in Casper, competing in the 1A State Basketball Tournament in 2014 and 2015 for the Lingle-Fort Laramie Lady Doggers. L-FL won a state title her junior year (2014) and finished as the consolation champions when Smith was a senior (2015). Although she is familiar with the venue, she has never competed in a rodeo there.
Despite the new rodeo location, Smith is simply focused on doing her best on all four runs. The CNFR is set for June 8-16 in Casper.
“Rodeo is a funny thing because it’s just another rodeo,” she said. “I’m just looking at it as four more runs. At the end of the day, it’s just a 45-pound goat on a 10-foot rope. There is nothing different.
“The idea of being a national champion is in the back of your mind, but I know if I go in there and put down the best four runs I can, I don’t think I’ll fall short of that title,” she added.