Arlington High School cross-country and track champ Hailey O'Daniel had the option to run in college, but she decided to pursue the sport she's participated in the longest instead.
Plus, if the senior Eagle would have picked distance running instead of rodeo, she'd miss her horses dearly.
“I definitely would,” O'Daniel said Monday as she celebrated signing with the University of Nebraska Rodeo team.
Coach Wyatt Clark was on hand for the signing as were the AHS standout's parents and friends.
“I've done rodeo my whole life. I've enjoyed it throughout my whole life,” O'Daniel added. “I just felt like I would be much happier competing in rodeo.”
Nebraska competes in the Great Plains Region of the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association. It has and has had a full roster of mostly local rodeo athletes, including several with Washington County ties — Cassidy Arp of Kennard, Herman's Jadyn Fleischman, and Bradie Crouse and Annika Gaylord of Blair among them.
O'Daniel said she picked the school based on her ability to study agribusiness management there, Lincoln's proximity to home and based on her new coach.
“He's great,” she said of Clark. “He's been great with me throughout the whole process of recruiting and everything.”
O'Daniel earned her Nebraska opportunity on the Iowa high school rodeo circuit. She's earned three National High School Finals Rodeo appearances through her efforts on it and all while balancing the weekend trips with her AHS running and basketball requirements.
In college, though, the senior will be sticking to roping, tying and racing.
“The thing I'm most excited about is just being able to put all of my efforts toward one sport,” O'Daniel said. “I'm normally overlapping with cross-country and track, and trying to practice both sports at once. It just gets crazy hectic.”
Every college rodeo athlete's goal is to reach the College National Finals Rodeo in Casper, Wyo. The event is held each June at the Ford Wyoming Center.
It's now a goal of a multi-sport athlete at AHS.
