Cisco College Athlete Wins Championship at First College Rodeo

It was literally Owen Schauer’s first rodeo ~ in college. And as a member of Cisco College’s Rodeo Team, he brought home the championship in steer wrestling from the Eastern New Mexico University Rodeo in Portales, N.M., held Sept. 15-17. “I was a bit nervous coming in, my first rodeo as a college student,” Owen said, “but after I nodded my head, I was just back to business and do what I can.” Owen, who has had success as a high school rodeo athlete in Canada, said he chose Cisco College because “I really liked the rodeo grounds and the coaches that are here for our rodeo team.” The coaches he was referring to are Head Rodeo Coach Don Ed Eddleman and Assistant Rodeo Coach Chad Biesemeyer. “They do a lot to help out their athletes. It’s just really nice being a part of something like that.” Owen is from Halkirk, Alberta, Canada, “just a small town east of Red Deer.” He performed well in the LRA Finals (Lakeland Rodeo Association), an amateur organization in Alberta, winning two rounds in the tiedown roping, and was the season leader tiedown roper in that association. He connected to Cisco College “through mutual friends, and friends that have been to this school, and they convinced me to come. It didn’t take much convincing, but I came down in early Spring this year and looked, and I knew where I was going.” Owen has two older sisters who were involved in rodeoing, and he has followed in their footsteps. “Both my parents grew up on ranches but never (Cont. on pg. B3) really rodeoed,” he said. “My Dad didn’t start roping until he was 40. But my sisters, they started rodeoing before me, so I kind of grew up around that.” One sister is in university now, and the other has graduated. This was Owen’s first year to participate heavily in amateur high school rodeo. “I went to finals a week or so ago and it went pretty good, overall a pretty decent year, but hopefully, I’ll start pro-rodeoing next year, or maybe a year or two, I’m not sure yet. We’ll see how it goes.” He plans to get a degree and transfer to a university, or go back home and start ranching and rodeoing. He’s not 100 percent sure which yet. Meanwhile, he practices rodeoing at Cisco College, “as much as your body will let you. It’s a little bit every day, putting in the work to get there. Everybody else is working just as hard as you are or harder, so you’ve got to keep working hard at it. And hopefully it’s your turn to win.” He also has the daily responsibility of taking care of his horses. “They’re a huge part of a guy’s success,” he said. He brought three horses to Cisco: Otis, his steerwrestling horse; Ice Cube, his rope horse; and Leo, his young rope horse. Owen said he enjoys living in Cisco. “I like it a lot. The heat was a bit hard to adjust to the first week or so, but it’s been very nice lately. With the rains, it cooled off a lot. I’m liking it a lot. And good people. I’ve made some great friends so far, and I’ve really been enjoying it.”