Stevens joins brother at Western Texas College

By Tyler Lowey, Times Reporter

A brotherly connection helped deliver Destiny Stevens to the rodeo hotbed of college athletics.
Following in her brother’s footsteps, Destiny will join Hayze at Western Texas College next fall and will join the Westerners rodeo program.
“I’m really excited to go to college and I’m going to try my best to win at the college level,” said Destiny, a Grade 12 student at Holy Cross Collegiate. “I’m really excited to see what college is all about.”
“We are very excited to have Destiny join our program. That girl can really rope and her barrel horse is really nice, too,” said Westerners women’s rodeo Head Coach Greg Rhodes.
The Westerners compete out of the Southwest Region, which has historically produced some of the greatest rodeo athletes that compete on the grandest stage of them all, the National Finals Rodeo.
“The list goes on and on and on: Ryan Grey, Wes Stevenson, Jake Wright and Trevor Brazile are just a few who went on from this region to compete in the NFR. This area produces some of the best cowboys and cowgirls in North America,” said Rhodes.
But before those rodeo athletes starred on the big stage of the NFR, they tore up the college ranks and competed in the College National Finals Rodeo. Rhodes has made a career out of sending the top rodeo contestants to the CNFR. He has sent a team or an individual to the CNFR in each of his 20 years at Western Texas.
The bright lights of the NFR and CNFR are right up the alley for Destiny, who has competed in the Indian Finals Rodeo in each of the past three years.
“We don’t bring a whole gob of people into our program each year. We only bring in those who we think have a chance at going to the CNFR. We are trying to win the CNFR each year and we think Destiny can help us out,” said Rhodes, who has sent 24 individual and teams to the CNFR in his time in Snyder, Tex.
There were a couple of schools trying to rope in the local rodeo star, but ultimately having her brother already attending Western Texas was a big factor in Destiny’s decision. Receiving a full-ride scholarship, having her housing and her rodeo fees paid for was the cherry on top.
“Hayze says he really likes the school and rodeo program. He enjoys getting to practice every day and I think that will only help out my roping skills,” said Destiny. “My parents were talking to the school for me since Hayze headed down last year, so that definitely helped.”
While Hayze suits up in the team roping discipline, Destiny will hop on the saddle for her two staple events, breakaway roping and barrel racing, but she isn’t closing the door on pole bending. She will bring her three horses with her to school.
With the greatly superior weather for rodeos, the season is much longer in Texas than it is in southern Alberta.
Destiny wrapped up her first weekend in the Alberta High School Rodeo Association last weekend with a second-place finish on Day 2 of the Taber Rodeo. Next fall, the Westerners will compete in five rodeos before the Christmas break and another five in the New Year, hopefully ending with a trip to the CNFR in Casper, Wyo., in June.
Having just committed to the Westerner program, Destiny is still trying to narrow down her field of study but believes she will take a route in agricultural studies. Her brother is in the business program.
Now with the stress of finding a suitable college program off her mind, Destiny can focus on finishing her studies at HCC and take aim at another provincial title in the AHSRA and the Indian Rodeo later this summer.