![\"Tarleton](\"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/65\/2026\/06\/CNFR-Womens-Team-2.png\")
Team members Kaylie Garza, Rylee Abel, Jenna Fulton and Faith Lundberg placed second in the highly competitive Lone Star Region of the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association to earn their shot at the 2026 title. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe have great chances for individual and team success,\u201d Stewart said. \u201cThis is a special opportunity. Now it\u2019s just about enjoying the moment and competing and representing Tarleton State well, and I think they\u2019ll do that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Garza is the lone repeat CNFR qualifier after earning a spot in the event last year as a breakaway roper. This season she took third place in the Lone Star Region in goat tying, her specialty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Garza\u2019s 2025-26 season featured first-place finishes at the Sul Ross State Rodeo in Alpine and the Angelo State University Rodeo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Does returning to Casper make her the team’s leader?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe\u2019re all leaders,\u201d said the sophomore psychology major from Marion, Texas. \u201cWe all push each other and hold each other accountable.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Even so, the team\u2019s youngest member, freshman biomedical science major Faith Lundberg, says she looks to Garza for things only a previous qualifier could offer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve been picking her brain to find out little things the everyday person wouldn\u2019t think about,\u201d said Lundberg, a native of Nanton, Alberta, Canada. \u201cShe\u2019s been really helpful.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wins at Weatherford and Fort Worth and a runner-up finish at Sul Ross were season highlights for Lundberg, who won the season\u2019s Lone Star Region goat tying championship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As the regional reserve champion in both the breakaway roping and the all-around, Stephenville senior Rylee Abel will compete in both the breakaway and goat tying events in Casper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Abel\u2019s seven top five regular season finishes included a first in goat tying at Vernon College and a breakaway win at ASU.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She said her teammates’ support for one another is a great strength of the team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMy friends are very motivated, and that motivates me to believe in myself and have confidence,\u201d she said. \u201cThe main thing we\u2019ve given each other is the confidence that we can do it. We have God and we have each other to get through it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fulton, regional breakaway champion, is a business administration graduate student from St. Lawrence, S.D., making her first CNFR appearance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis season I learned to stick to the plan and have confidence in myself and my horse,\u201d she said. \u201cWe both know how to do the job. We just have to make the best run we can, one calf at a time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fulton finished first at the Weatherford College Rodeo and at the Fort Worth Stock Show College Rodeo and was third at the Sul Ross spring rodeo in Pecos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She said being a part of Tarleton State\u2019s rodeo legacy has made her and her teammates work diligently to earn their place in Casper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cEverybody has worked really hard,\u201d she said. \u201cTo get ready for the college finals we\u2019ve been roping together to keep our skills sharp.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Those skills, of course, will be paramount, but Fulton said the unit’s camaraderie is also vital to the team\u2019s success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe dedication each of us has and the support system we have with the coaches is amazing,\u201d she said. \u201cAll the CNFR qualifiers are some of my best friends; it\u2019s crazy how close we are, and that makes us better because we\u2019re surrounded by such good people that want to do well.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Though they all expect success in Casper, Lundberg\u2019s assessment of the team\u2019s chances at the CNFR includes bringing a national crown to Stephenville.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe\u2019re going there to win it,\u201d she said. \u201cWe came out of the toughest region in the nation, so the hard part is over. Now we just have to be consistent, finish it off and have fun.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
STEPHENVILLE, Texas \u2014 Four members of Tarleton State University’s women’s rodeo team will compete June 14-20 at the College National Finals Rodeo in Casper, Wyo., after the Texans finished second …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54,"featured_media":55284,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","_wds_title":"","_wds_metadesc":"","_wds_focus-keywords":"","_wds_meta-robots-adv":"","_wds_meta-robots-noindex":false,"_wds_meta-robots-nofollow":false,"_wds_meta-robots-index":false,"_wds_meta-robots-follow":false,"_wds_autolinks-exclude":false,"_wds_canonical":"","_wds_redirect":"","_wds_opengraph":[],"_wds_twitter":[],"wds_primary_category":425,"footnotes":""},"categories":[382,425,421],"tags":[446,455,456],"class_list":["post-55283","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-homepage","category-campus-community","category-featuredstories","tag-division-of-student-engagement-success","tag-rodeo","tag-stephenville"],"acf":{"image":false},"author_meta":{"display_name":"priddle","author_link":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/author\/priddle-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2\/"},"featured_img":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/65\/2026\/06\/CNFR-Womens-Team-2-300x200.png","coauthors":[],"tax_additional":{"categories":{"linked":["_Homepage<\/a>","Campus & Community<\/a>","Featured Stories<\/a>"],"unlinked":["_Homepage<\/span>","Campus & Community<\/span>","Featured Stories<\/span>"]},"tags":{"linked":["Division of Student Engagement & Success<\/a>","Rodeo<\/a>","Stephenville<\/a>"],"unlinked":["Division of Student Engagement & Success<\/span>","Rodeo<\/span>","Stephenville<\/span>"]}},"comment_count":0,"relative_dates":{"created":"Posted 1 day ago","modified":"Updated 1 day ago"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Posted on June 10, 2026","modified":"Updated on June 10, 2026"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Posted on June 10, 2026 2:00 pm","modified":"Updated on June 10, 2026 3:02 pm"},"featured_img_caption":"","series_order":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55283","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/54"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55283"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55283\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":55293,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55283\/revisions\/55293"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55284"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55283"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55283"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55283"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}