Montana State's Paige Rasmussen, Bode Spring have all

Jan 27, 2024

Montana State's Paige Rasmussen competes in the barrel racing on April 14 at the Brick Breeden Fieldhouse in Bozeman.

BOZEMAN — It may not be Paige Rasmussen's last rodeo ever, but it certainly will be her last for a while.

The Montana State senior will enter the College National Finals Rodeo this weekend with the goal of reclaiming her 2021 women's all-around championship. No matter how she fares, Rasmussen has some clarity on what comes next: a two-month internship that starts June 26 at the Institute for Brain Research at MIT. And after that, applications to medical schools.

Rasmussen is fully aware that rodeo and graduate school lifestyles aren't easily mixed. She knows she will soon have to step away from one passion to pursue a different dream.

It is for that reason that she hopes to soak up as much of her time at CNFR next week in Casper, Wyoming, as she can.

"I think that it's made my practices more fun and more meaningful, more purposeful," she said of her finite time left in the sport. "I’m mostly excited because I know that I can just lay everything out on the line in Casper this next week."

The rodeo will begin on Sunday and run through next Saturday, June 17.

Rasmussen heads to college rodeo's biggest stage with the fourth-most points in the country in the goat tying (1,186) and the sixth-most all-around points among women (1,594.50). As the Big Sky Region's all-around champion, she gets to participate in two events at CNFR; she's chosen barrel racing as the other.

After the MSU women won the Big Sky Region team championship, the Bobcats will have eight women competing at CNFR. Joining Rasmussen are Jacee Currin (breakaway roping, goat tying); Tayla Moeykens (barrels); Molly Salmond (breakaway); Cate Hepper (breakaway); Alexis McDonald (barrels); Meghan McGinley (breakaway); and Jessica Stevens (goat tying).

Though only a select number of competitors can earn points for their team (a distinction made by head coaches before events begin), Rasmussen is confident in MSU's chances to compete for the team title, which it won in 2021.

"We have some of the toughest competitors in the nation," Rasmussen said. "Not only do I think we have as good a chance as anyone at a team title, but I think we’re going to see some individual titles this year as well."

Salmond was the Big Sky Region's champion in the breakaway roping, and McDonald was second in the barrel racing by 25 points. Bobcats very nearly swept the women's events for the entire region.

"I think that shows how strong our women's team is," Salmond said.

Montana State's Molly Salmond competes in breakaway roping on April 8, 2022, at the Brick Breeden Fieldhouse in Bozeman.

Salmond qualified for CNFR for the first time last year, her fifth season of college rodeo, and she ended up placing fourth in the short go of the breakaway roping. She is fifth nationally with 561 points in the event this season.

"I think just not putting pressure on yourself and just enjoying the moments and being grateful to be there is really key to doing well," said Salmond, a Choteau native. "I feel like that's how I was last year and things seem to go OK."

The Montana State men's team also won the Big Sky Region and is sending plenty of possible point earners. Leading the way is Bode Spring, the Big Sky Region's men's all-around champion, who will compete in steer wrestling and tie down roping. He’ll be joined by Jase Bustad (tie down roping); Trav Johnson (steer wrestling); Mike Nannini (steer wrestling); Hayden Taylor (team roping); Jaden Whitman (steer wrestling); and Caleb Meeks (saddle bronc).

Spring, a junior from Gallatin Gateway who graduated from Bozeman High, is making his first trip to CNFR, following in the footsteps of his father Ty, who also qualified during his rodeo career with the Bobcats. Spring's aunt Kristi also rodeoed with MSU.

Spring will arrive in Casper with the 19th-most all-around points (1,375) and the 21st-most in the tie down roping (563).

Of his two events, Spring believes he is strongest in the tie down roping. It's also the event he enjoys more. He believes it's the toughest event in rodeo.

"I think it takes the most horsepower, maybe besides barrel racing," he said. "There's so much to it. Once you get your calf roped, you’ve got to set up your horse nice so you can stop nice. And then you’ve got to get down, flank and tie (the calf) pretty smooth. There's a lot of small, intricate details when you’re tying. It just takes so much practice, it's unbelievable."

Montana State's Bode Spring drops down onto his steer on April 8, 2022, at the Brick Breeden Fieldhouse in Bozeman.

He had two wins at Big Sky Region rodeos in the tie down roping during the season. He also won once and placed second twice in the steer wrestling, where he was fourth overall behind teammates Whitman, Nannini and Johnson.

Whitman, a freshman from Belgrade, won the region in the event with 905 points, almost 200 more points than Nannini.

"They’re crazy about bulldogging," Spring said of Whitman's family, which includes brother Jaret Whitman, a former Bobcat and CNFR qualifier. "(Jaden's) always worked so hard at it. It makes sense (he won). It would have been odd if anybody else would have won it this year."

Whitman said his success has stemmed, in part, from having a family so dedicated to the event.

"I grew up traveling in the backseat with a whole bunch of bulldoggers, and we just live and breathe it," he said. "It came second nature when I started to do it myself."

Being from nearby Belgrade, Whitman said he has "so much pride" in representing Montana State at CNFR.

"There's no other school I’d rather rodeo for," said Whitman, who had three steer wrestling wins during the season. "I expect to take (the CNFR experience) in one step at a time and have fun and just enjoy it because you don't know when you’re going to be there next."

Rasmussen is taking a similar mindset. She knows she can always come back to rodeo, but it's still bittersweet knowing CNFR will be her last for some time.

At least as a collegian, she's going out strong. She won the goat tying four times during the 10-rodeo season, and she never placed lower than third. She won the all-around twice and placed second and third once each. This is her fourth consecutive year qualifying for CNFR, though it's only her third time attending because the event was canceled her freshman year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

She has two years of rodeo eligibility left, but she's forgoing them to focus on a new part of her life. Rasmussen graduated in May with a degree in psychology and a minor in Spanish.

"It's been a great year, and I am really excited," she said. "It is going to be hard, but because I think I have that next step coming I’m more excited than I am sad."

Rasmussen believes she grew as a competitor this year, especially from a mental standpoint. She put a lot of pressure on herself as a junior to repeat the success of her sophomore year. As a senior, with the end of her career in sight, Rasmussen still had high goals for herself, but she tried to alleviate that self-inflicted pressure to make sure she enjoyed the process more than she had been.

"I found that was kind of my key to success. I found more purpose in every single run, so it feels great knowing I was able to overcome some of my own mental blocks and have accomplished my goals," she said. "There's not this big pressure that rodeo and winning is going to define who I am because I have something else. I know that I’m just doing this because I love it, not because it defines who I am."

Parker Cotton can be reached at [email protected] or 406-582-2670. Follow him on Twitter @ByParkerCotton.

The Miles Community College men's rodeo team has four cowboys who have qualified for the College Finals National Rodeo in Casper next month.

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