The Last Run in the Purple Vest: Searching for a national title

BY KILEY MORGAN / Multimedia Journalist

Most  students have one goal in mind when starting college, getting a diploma. For a student-rodeo athlete like Rayme Jones, there was so much more to prove than achieving that one goal. For her, there were three goals: bachelor’s degree, master’s degree, and a qualification to the College National Finals Rodeo (CNFR). 

 Jones was raised in the small town of Lamesa, Texas, with her brother, Hunter, and her parents, Kirk and Kembra Jones. She showed pigs during her younger years, but in fifth grade she wanted horses. 

“My dad rodeoed for Howard College and my mom grew up on a ranch. She never competed but she had horses. They had horses up until I was born. Then when I was in fifth grade, I wanted horses, so we got some and I stopped stock showing. I started junior rodeoing and it all started from there,” said Jones. 

Throughout her junior high and high school rodeo career, she did it all. 

“I competed in pole bending, goat tying, barrels, breakaway roping, and team roping,” Jones said. When her high school rodeo days ended, Jones decided that this was not the end to her rodeo career. 

Junior college or University? Jones had to ask herself when trying to make the best decision, not only for her rodeo career but more importantly, her education. 

She toured Weatherford College the same day that she toured Tarleton State University, but ultimately knew that Stephenville was right where she needed to be. 

“After touring Tarleton, I fell in love with it. I loved the rodeo program and the coaches and I absolutely loved the campus. I just knew this was where I wanted to go,” Jones said.

Jones traded West Texas for the “Cowboy Capital of the World” in the fall of 2019 to put on the famous purple Tarleton Rodeo vest and pursue a kinesiology degree at Tarleton.

Ultimately, every cowgirl and cowboys’ dream are to make the CNFR while college rodeoing, but very few can make that dream a reality. Jones, however, was determined to make it happen. 

“Why is making it to the College National Finals Rodeo a huge deal?” some might ask. 16 of the best colleges in the nation make up the Southwest Region, Tarleton being one of them. These 16 colleges go to 10 rodeos throughout the year and their best athletes compete against one another. 

At the end of the year, the top three athletes in their respective events get to move on to the big event in Casper, Wyoming, which is the College National Finals Rodeo. 

Here, the athletes compete against regions from all over the United States. The CNFR is the greatest accomplishment a college rodeo athlete can achieve, and after five years of competition, Jones finally punched her ticket to Casper this year. 

While it was a relief to earn a spot at the CNFR, Jones had been in the pressure cooker since the Western Texas College (WTC) Rodeo at the beginning of April. She sat on the bubble, in third place in the Goat Tying, throughout WTC, Howard College Rodeo and the Tarleton Stampede.  

“This is my first time to make the CNFR since I started here in 2019,” Jones said. “Big Spring rodeo [Howard College] was right before the Tarleton rodeo and I won that rodeo. So, that helped me a lot, but I didn’t even know where I was at going into Tarleton. I knew I was close to making it, and I knew I had a chance. But I didn’t know who was in front of me in the standings, or who was behind me. I knew if I knew, I would let the stress get to me and it would affect how I competed.” 

She split the long go at the Tarleton Stampede with a six second run and came back to the short go Saturday night making a 6.6 second run. Any other college goat tier would love to have a 6.6 second run in the short-go, but for Jones, this run could make or break her dreams of going to the CNFR. 

“I had a good run in the short go, but it wasn’t what I wanted. I was upset about it,” Jones said. “I was unsaddling my horse afterwards and my mom just kept calling and calling and calling and calling. I was not going to answer because I just didn’t want to know. Then, she texted me and said- ‘Get over it… you’re going to the college finals.’”

Going into the college finals, Jones’ goal is to obviously win, but to stay consistent. She will get three runs and then hopefully a short go. 

“I just want to be smooth, consistent, and enjoy the experience,” said Jones. 

Jones attributes a lot of her success to God and her great support system that has followed her around to college rodeos for the last five years. 

“In everything I do, I go to God. He is who gets me through everything. I don’t want to say that sets me apart from others but, he is a huge part of my success and I want to tell people about it,” Jones said. 

Throughout her college rodeo career, Jones has had 46 college rodeos. Out of those 46 rodeos, her grandparents, Gary and Judy Jones (Papa and Mamajuju), have been to 41. 

“They missed one rodeo because she [Judy] was shooting an elk in Utah. The other four was because she was diagnosed with cancer, this February. Since we live so close to Snyder, she was able to make that one this semester, but it was so hard at the Tarleton rodeo without her being there this year. I had a lot of people there to support me, but my number 1 not being there was very hard for me,” Jones said. “My other great supporters are my brother, Hunter and his wife Lindsey and my grandparents, Johnny and Nancy Kemp (Gammy and GunGun) and of course, all of my aunts and uncles and cousins.”

While rodeoing for Tarleton has been everything Jones could have dreamed of, she also has big dreams to become a chiropractor. 

She walked across the stage in Memorial Stadium last year, where she graduated with her undergraduate degree and she will take the stage again this month, to receive her master’s degree in kinesiology. 

 After graduation, Jones will head to Dallas, Texas, where she will attend Parker University Chiropractic school in the fall. Unfortunately, she will have to put her Goat Tying career on hold while attending school in Dallas. 

“Chiropractor school will take three and a half years, but once I get out of school completely, I would like to continue to rodeo and raise my kids to rodeo,” Jones said.

Once a cowgirl, always a cowgirl. Rayme, congratulations on your academic and athletic success at Tarleton and best of luck representing Tarleton Rodeo at the CNFR in June.