RELATED LINKS: 2023-24 Men's Rodeo Schedule | 2023-24 Women's Rodeo Schedule
LIVINGSTON, Ala. – The University of West Alabama men's and women's rodeo teams start the schedule this weekend in Marshall, Missouri at the Viking Stampede Rodeo Show from Missouri Valley College.
"This is my favorite time of the year. It's a clean slate and anyone's game. We need to do our best in the moment and then move on from it. It's a marathon, not a sprint," said head coach Daniel Poole.
SCHEDULE OUTLOOK
The fall portion of the 2023-24 schedule will start at Missouri Valley College this weekend, and then the Tigers will host the UWA Rodeo Showdown on Sept. 28-30 from the Hines-Spree Rodeo Complex.
Tickets are now for sale by clicking on the link here. Daily passes are on sale for $10, and an All-Weekend pass is available for $28. Children under the age of five years old are free. Please note that all sales from the weekend's show will go back to the UWA Rodeo program.
Shows begin at 7 p.m. with a pre-show at 6 p.m. each night.
Following UWA's home show, the Tigers will head to Sikeston, Missouri for the Three Rivers College Rodeo Show on Oct. 5 to 7. After a month off, the Tigers will then head to Southern Arkansas University on Nov. 2-4.
The fall season concludes at Murray State in Kentucky on Nov. 16-18.
The spring schedule, including postseason competition, will be released at a later date.
LONG LIVE THE QUEENS
The 2022-23 women's rodeo national championship team with the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association (NIRA) will be recognized at the UWA home show over the weekend of Sept. 28-30. Additionally, before kickoff of the West Alabama football game with Delta State University, the team will also be recognized as a part of the UWA Athletics Hall of Fame.
The national title is the second in West Alabama athletics history, joining the 1971 NAIA Football National Championship team.
Leading the returner of the national championship team is
Taycie Matthews, who won two of the four Barrel Racing events scoring 13.77 points on the first and second goes. Over the week in Wyoming, she claimed the individual national championship in the event with a score of 380, averaging 55.53 points per go.
Taycie joins
JT Ellison (2023, Steer Wrestling) and Zach Wilson (2013, Tie Down) as the three individual national champions in UWA Wrangler history.
Twin sister
Jaylie Matthews finished third in the first two goes in the Barrel Racing events at the national event.
MEN'S PREVIEW
The UWA men's team is coming off a national championship appearance with a 31st place finish.
Kota Wilhite took ninth in the third go of the tie down roping event with a score of 9.2 from last year's national championship.
