NWC FRESHMAN COMPETE AT NITE RODEO
Freshmen Kinzie Castagno from Jackson and Jasmine Brinley from Grass Range, Mont., met this summer when they were paired up as random roommates at Northwest College. They’ve become close friends while both competing in barrel racing for the Northwest College rodeo team. The Cody Enterprise sat down with them recently to chat about their experience.
BY LAUREN MODLER ENTERPRISE SPORTS WRITER
Courtesy of the CodyEnterprise
Freshmen Kinzie Castagno from Jackson and Jasmine Brinley from Grass Range, Mont., met this summer when they were paired up as random roommates at Northwest College. They've become close friends while both competing in barrel racing for the Northwest College rodeo team. The Cody Enterprise sat down with them recently to chat about their experience.
CE: What was it like coming to Powell from other places to compete in rodeo for Northwest College?
JB: It was a great opportunity to be on this team and meet someone as amazing as Kinzie and all the other people on the team.
KC: It's been pretty crazy. I travel a lot in the summers for rodeos and I'm just so used to staying in Wyoming so I think it will be cool to rodeo in the Montana region. I'm really excited. It's a really cool opportunity I've dreamed of since I was a little girl.
CE: What is it like juggling school and rodeo?
KC: We haven't started school yet, it starts next week. But we're already like, "Oh gosh this is going to be a lot. When practice first started we were all like, "What's it going to be like when school gets put on top of this?" Because you got a whole day of school and four hours of practice every day, just to wake up and do it all over again, but that's the thrill of it.
CE: How long have you guys been doing rodeo before you began competing at the college level?
JB: I started competing when I was 10. I started to get more and more into it as I got older. I came a fraction of a second from winning a saddle in June in Idaho.
KC: I've been around horses my whole life. My family owns an outfitting business in Jackson. So I started running barrels in 7th grade. I was using one of our dude horses. My dad was like that's all we got so use it. Then I started to get competitive in high school.
CE: How is competing in college different from competing somewhere individually like at the Cody Nite Rodeo?
JB: It's a lot more competitive. You get up there with the big dogs. I would say it takes more dedication and time. You have to put everything you got into it to be successful.
CE: How did you wind up at Northwest College?
JB: During junior year I went to this college fair and went around to booths and I went to Powell's and they had a good equine program and that's what I want to do in the future is stay around horses and work with them. I toured the campus and thought I don't want to go anywhere else.
CE: What are your goals in rodeo?
KC: I'd say the big goal at the end is to make it to college finals. I just got a new horse a couple weeks ago and my biggest goal with her is to start clicking and figuring things out. I would just say being competitive, that's all we're striving for, and to place in the top five in some rodeos would be super cool.
CE: What advice would you give to someone just starting out?
JB: Just to be yourself and not to change yourself to make other people happy. You are your own unique person and someone is going to like what is unique about you.
CE: What got you into rodeo?
KC: I would say just growing up with horses I always wanted to do it. At first my dad was against it, he didn't grow up rodeoing and one of my best friends was running barrels all the time so finally one night I just decided to enter and called my dad and told him I was in a rodeo and he was like, "Are you kidding me?" and that's when it all started for me and I never looked back.
CE: What does it feel like when you're out there?
JB: A huge adrenaline rush.
KC: Going into the gate, oh my gosh, my stomach drops to my toes.
JB: Right before I go in I feel like I'm going to throw up. I'm thinking in my head I need to do this at this barrel and this at that barrel. There's so many things to think about. Then you get in there and you forget everything. People are yelling at you and cheering and you're trying to concentrate so hard and you don't even hear the crowd, at least I don't. No matter how many times you do it, it feels like that every time.