Alyssa Lockhart, a senior from Oelrichs, SD, is a dedicated rodeo athlete. Alyssa competes in breakaway roping, barrel racing, and goat tying while also serving as the Women’s Team Captain. Although the Lockhart name is widely known in the rodeo industry, Alyssa claims that her love for rodeo did not start immediately. “When I was little, I got hauled to so many rodeos that I hated it,” Alyssa states. “It wasn’t until I started junior high rodeoing that I kind of started to like it. Once it started coming together and I started doing well, I began thinking how fun it was.” Alyssa has competed in her three events for her whole rodeo career and says that she has difficulty choosing a favorite between them all. “It really depends on the day. But in the end, I’d probably either like to rope or run barrels more,” she says.
When it comes to deciding on which horse to run, it’s often difficult for Alyssa to make that decision. She claims that she uses multiple horses in the practice pen where she works on accomplishing small goals with each horse along with some of her own. To the spring rodeos, though, Alyssa explains that the horses she’s leaning towards hauling are Roper for breakaway, Jesse for goat tying, and either Coach or Red for barrel racing. Alyssa has had success in the past with college rodeo by qualifying for the College National Finals twice, holding the region title for barrel racing and breakaway roping, and qualifying for the short go in the breakaway at the 2019 CNFR. This year, Alyssa is shooting to qualify for the CNFR in all three of her events.
When making her college decision, Alyssa wasn’t sure where she wanted to go at first. However, after touring the campus, meeting a few faculty members, and talking to Coach Lammers, Alyssa decided that BHSU was the college for her. When I asked what her favorite part about BHSU was, she answered, “Definitely rodeo and the rodeo team because we’re all so tight-knit and everyone supports each other. It’s just so much fun because everyone is such good friends. Having such a close relationship with my teammates is the best part.” Alyssa also advises upcoming rodeo athletes to “just put your all into both school and rodeo. Work at it every day and good things will come out of it.”
After Alyssa graduates in May with a Psychology degree, she plans to attend graduate school “down south” where she can pursue a degree in clinical mental health counseling. Along with graduate school, she also hopes to rodeo another year and see where the rodeo trail takes her.
Before BHSU: Graduated from Hot Springs High School in South Dakota … majoring in Psychology … recipient of Floyd Scholarship … daughter of Grady and Lisa Lockhart.
