The MSU-Northern Rodeo teams are set to compete in their first events of 2024 starting Thursday. New Media Broadcasters spoke with head coach Doug Kallenberger and he said the team has been ramping up to go to Bozeman, where Montana State University will host.
“We’re all ready to be back at it,” Kallenberger said. “We’ve been practicing and competing against each other for months now. Everyone is just ready to go out there.”
“The kids look great,” Kallenberger continued. “You never know what’s going to happen until you get into that live stuff.”
“The kids look the best they’ve been for the last few months, so hopefully we can just continue the momentum we had last fall into this spring,” Kallenberger said.
The second half of the season wouldn’t be complete without the latest signings to the MSU-N rodeo programs. Kellen Statham is the brother of Kenda Statham, who is currently one of the top rodeo participants in the north as well as in the Skylights program. Kyla Burchard was the most recent addition to the program, coming over from Havre High, where she was named All-State throughout her time with the Blue Ponies. Kallenberger listed the accomplishments of the signings that he was able to produce in the last couple of weeks.
“Kyla was a local girl that was interested in Northern,” Kallenberger said. “We signed her and she’ll be a great asset to our women’s team.”
“(Kellen is from) Canada and he’s going to bring a tremendous amount of strength,” Kallenberger continued. “Multi-event cowboy from British Columbia that will do a great job for us, too.”
The MSU-Northern women will lead the standings coming in at 1,998.5 points, while the MSU-Northern men have amassed 1,610.5 points, which is good for fourth behind Montana State, Montana Western, and Northwest College, which will all feature in the competition.
The four days of rodeo will be broadcast on TV for those who want to watch it from Havre as KRTV-Channel 3 will have coverage through this Sunday.
