LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) – Texas Tech\u2019s 77th annual collegiate rodeo kicked off Thursday, with coaches saying the team\u2019s 85 members have signed up and done their part for the event.<\/p>\n
The event runs Thursday through Saturday<\/a> at the Texas Tech Equestrian Center.<\/p>\n Krece Kirkpatrick, graduate assistant coach for Tech Rodeo, said the past week has been busy for the team.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s great. We\u2019ve been extremely busy the last week here. We\u2019ve been very fortunate. We have a very large team of 85 members. And they\u2019ve all signed up and done their part. And we\u2019re really looking forward to putting this rodeo on this week,\u201d Kirkpatrick said.<\/p>\n Coaches focus on life lessons<\/p>\n Kirkpatrick was a Red Raider and a member of the rodeo team. He\u2019s now passing his experience along to the current team.<\/p>\n \u201cJust teach them the lessons here in the rodeo arena that they go a lot further than just rodeo. I\u2019m a firm believer that rodeo is a big character-building sport. You know, there\u2019s lots of ups and downs, a lot of downs. And it really just teaches us how to push through the hard times and just build a better person in general,\u201d Kirkpatrick said.<\/p>\n Head coach Swaize Lee said she is building a community in addition to a rodeo team. She said she teaches team members about going from being an individual to becoming a team member.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd then, obviously…we\u2019re just always looking to build good humans and send them on into the workforce. Or maybe they just continue in rodeo. Whatever they\u2019re doing in life, we\u2019re really just trying to build good people,\u201d Lee said.<\/p>\n Nine events over three days<\/p>\n The three-day rodeo features nine events, including bareback, barrel racing, breakaways and bull riding, at the Texas Tech Equestrian Center.<\/p>\n The event features \u201ccostume ribbon roping\u201d each night.<\/p>\n Kirkpatrick said a 12-and-under costume contest is scheduled for Saturday.<\/p>\n \u201cAll the kids come dressed up in your best costume. And the winner, winner takes all, you\u2019ll get your little buckle just like any competitor does,\u201d Kirkpatrick said.<\/p>\n Tickets and schedule<\/p>\n Tickets are $10 per person. Texas Tech students get in free with their student ID on Friday.<\/p>\n Lee and Kirkpatrick are grateful for the community\u2019s support as they reach the end of the fall semester. They are excited to share the Western tradition and Texas Tech\u2019s longstanding ties to agriculture.<\/p>\n A schedule of events is available here<\/a> or you can follow along on their Facebook page<\/a>.<\/p>\n Copyright 2026 KCBD. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) – Texas Tech\u2019s 77th annual collegiate rodeo kicked off Thursday, with coaches saying the team\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":481590,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[168,170,169,162336,162334,162335,156862],"class_list":["post-481589","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-lubbock","tag-lubbock","tag-lubbock-headlines","tag-lubbock-news","tag-lubbock-rodeo-tickets","tag-texas-tech-collegiate-rodeo","tag-texas-tech-equestrian-center","tag-texas-tech-rodeo"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/481589","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=481589"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/481589\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/481590"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=481589"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=481589"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=481589"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}