Through weeks of planning and organization comes the first UNM Intercollegiate Rodeo, which will be held at Tingley Coliseum today and Saturday.
Just last semester, UNM’s first-ever rodeo association was formed. Since its inception, President Flavian Tabaha, advisers and students have worked toward building UNM into a legitimate rodeo contender.
The UNM team joined the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association’s Grand Canyon Region, which includes New Mexico State University, the University of Arizona and others, and now is in its first competition.
Tabaha said the quick progress was a matter of the association setting a goal and achieving it.
“We had a strategic plan in place,” Tabaha said. “The first phase was to get organized and assign responsibilities and getting the budget process out of the way. The second phase was sponsoring a rodeo, and the third phase is getting additional funding from the state Legislature and UNM. The student government’s budget is not enough to cover it.”
Tabaha said the event cost nearly $10,000, and the association managed to raise half of it. He said advertisers and sponsors helped to further defray the costs. He said that if the association could get more money, it could grow.
“We’d like to make it a full-time thing with a full staff,” Tabaha said. “And we’d like to be able to offer scholarships to students on behalf of UNM, not only as a student but as a rodeo participant.”
The UNM team will have five competitors: Amy Morrison, Tandy Frell and Megan Wynn will compete in the bell racing and breakaway events, while Robbie Whitehair and Ben Torres will compete in the team roping events.
Tabaha said the team is excited about its first college competition.
“This is their first semester but it’s not something new,” Tabaha said. “They’ve been doing this since high school, but the change of environment and college life has been challenging for them.”
Tabaha said even though the team is competing against schools with established rodeo programs, he feels confident UNM will have strong representation.
“Rodeo is an individual sport; it doesn’t matter who they compete against, they compete against the animal,” Tabaha said. “And if you get intimidated by the other school and the other competition, you lose that edge. But we try to work as a team.”
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After this weekend, UNM will compete in the College Rodeo Championship Series May 3-5 in Hobbs, N.M. Tabaha said he hopes the more visible the team becomes, the more it can recruit and the more money it could receive.
“We have a great interest in recruiting from other schools and other high schools,” Tabaha said. “There are parents in the community that are so happy that UNM has begun to offer this type of thing, they can’t say enough about it. One thing I want to have the UNM administration acknowledge is that we need big time funding, assisted support at least.”
Tabaha also offered a solution for the debate that is centered around the possibility of a new baseball stadium in Albuquerque.
“Of course, my dream is to build a state-of-the-art rodeo ring,” he said. “If they’re going to keep arguing about it, they might as well turn it into a rodeo ring.”
Performances are scheduled for 1 p.m. today and 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. Saturday. Advance tickets are available at all Western Warehouse outlets for $7 general admission, and $5 for UNM students. Tickets at the door are $10 general admission and $7 for students.
