A friendship made of steel: Carlee Sims and Kaycee Thomas

BY MACKENZIE JOHNSON / Multimedia Journalist

It is scientifically believed that there are several factors subconsciously taken into account when presented with the opportunity to befriend someone. 
 

In elementary school, these factors aren’t quite as prominent. Friends are simply made over shared goldfish crumbs during snack time and metal swing sets and plastic slides at recess.
 

Although this route could still be attempted when navigating friendships outside of primary school, it’s not recommended. 
 

Instead, deciding friendship factors for young adults range from anywhere to similar morals, shared interests, first impressions and potentially less notably, height. 
 

At least that’s the premise that upcoming Tarleton graduates Kaycee Thomas and Carlee Sims began building their friendship upon. 
 

As college freshmen on Tarleton’s rodeo team, the two met at a party the weekend of the Tarleton Stampede Rodeo, the home college rodeo held every spring of the season for the southwest region. 
 

Sims found herself without a ride home and naturally, sought about solving this problem by staking out the tallest person in the vicinity. This person was Thomas. 
 

They may not have known each other yet on a personal level that fateful evening, but they would soon become inseparable. 
 

Although Thomas and Sims don’t share the similarity of height, they do share the most treasured passion in their lives – that of rodeo. 
 

Rodeo is something that has been ingrained in both of their lives since the beginning, even if they didn’t fully tap into it until junior high.
 

The cowgirls come from completely different zip codes with Thomas from Carpenter, Wyoming,  and Sims from San Angelo, Texas. 
 

Although always involved in horses, Thomas was also occupied with showing lambs and pigs growing up while Sims was consumed with several school sports. When barrel racing started taking priority over those activities, the two fully immersed themselves and never looked back. 
 

That dedication has only heightened since rodeoing for Tarleton. 
 

“This is the only time in your life that you’re ever going to rodeo for a team,” Sims said. “It’s not just you. Your responsibilities and standards are upheld higher… It’s for a team.”
Although being a part of Tarleton rodeo is a full time devotion, that commitment isn’t one sided. 
 

“With those responsibilities, you also have teammates to lean on and help you if you need it,” Thomas said. “It’s cool to be a part of a team. If you’ve broken down on the side of the road, blown a tire or anything like that, they’re going to be there for you.” 
 

Not only is it special to be a part of a team, but it’s special to be a part of one so competitive.
 

“People are intimidated by the way people work around here,” Sims said of the Stephenville rodeo community. “It’s a whole different scene. Mark (Eakin) expects so much of us compared to other rodeo schools, and that’s part of being on a team. Mark being that way just really helps all of us grow as individuals within and outside of rodeo.”
 

Alongside Head Rodeo Coach Eakin, Brittany Stewart, associate head rodeo coach for Tarleton, is another individual worth crediting for the growth of Tarleton rodeo students, but she reflects that credit back onto the students themselves, especially when looking at Thomas and Sims. 
 

“A friendship like the one Kaycee & Carlee have is a part of coaching that I truly enjoy,” Stewart said. “Carlee held an internship and student worker position with us, and since you very rarely see one without the other, Kaycee helped out a lot, too. The miles that we travel and the ups and downs on the rodeo road is unlike any other sport, so having a teammate and friend that you can trust is so important, and these two are that.”
 

The two’s friendship is a unique one, fostered through not only the struggles and triumphs college rodeo has to offer, but life in general when you’re at the college age. 
 

“In high school, I feel like everyone is trying to prove themselves,” Thomas said. “College is different. Everyone is focusing on themselves and their opportunities. None of the drama and things like that matter, so I feel like you can have much more genuine relationships in the college atmosphere.”
 

Thomas and Sims are about as genuine as you can get. 
 

“Through high school, I never really had a best friend – somebody that I could trust with everything and would always be there for me with no judgment at all,” Sims said. “God definitely brought Kaycee in my life for a reason, and I’m very thankful for that.”
 

Sims’ mom is just as thankful for Kaycee’s loyal friendship. 
 

“It was through the Tarleton rodeo program that Carlee Jo and Kaycee became the best of friends,” Michelle Sims said. “They hold each other accountable even through the ups and downs of rodeo. My husband Chad and I feel like we have gained another daughter with Kaycee. She fits right in with our family and is truly a blessing.”
 

Although it’s not the entire basis of how close Thomas and Sims are, the demand of college rodeo is one that plays a large part in that dynamic. 
 

“College rodeo has been an experience for me because it has taught me so much patience,” Sims said. “It’s not always your time to shine, and the hard stuff is going to make you stronger. Just because you don’t do good at the college rodeos doesn’t mean that you’re not a good individual. It’s such a short period of our lives.”
 

College rodeo has been equally as much of a learning process for Thomas. 
 

“College rodeo has taught me you have to work your tail off,” Thomas said. “You can’t take any off days. The days that you’re not riding your horse, somebody else is. You have to push yourself to be the absolute best that you can, and the people you surround yourself with are the level that you’re going to compete at. If you’re around people that aren’t determined and have the same goals as you, you’re not going to grow and get anywhere either.”
 

College rodeo is hard. The weekends are long, the weekdays preparing for it are even longer, and the competition is a knife fight. But that pressure is not one that bleeds over into the friendship of Thomas and Sims. 
 

“I don’t feel like it’s ever a competition between us two,” Sims said. “That’s why it works. I want Kaycee to win just as much as I want myself to win. And if she wins and I don’t, I would rather her take that.”
 

Through the lens of Thomas, it’s viewed no differently. 
 

“We both just try to keep the mood light,” Thomas said. “We joke around and just have a good time, but we’re also very focused, and we hold each other accountable.”
 

Tarleton rodeo’s weight and workout room is one of the places this accountability is often upheld. 
 

“We both go to workouts a lot, and that’s one thing that’s benefited our friendship so much,” Sims said. “Tyler (Frank) is like a life coach to us and a very good friend of ours, so I feel like both mentally and on the strength side of things, we get help with success in the arena and in our careers.”
 

Frank is Tarleton rodeo’s strength and conditioning coach and has seen first hand how Thomas and Sims uplift one another. 
 

“Carlee and Kaycee are the perfect balance in all aspects, and it shows in their friendship,” Frank said. “Whether it’s being each other’s competitive hauling partner who pushes each other to be as successful as they can be or coming into the gym together and goofing off, they are always smiling and laughing loud enough that I can hear them over the speakers. There is never a dull moment when they are around, and watching them walk the stage to graduate and start the next chapter of their lives will be one of the most bittersweet moments of my coaching career.”
 

They’ll both be walking the stage in December, but plan to stay in Stephenville for graduate school. Thomas, a business management major, will be continuing that educational path by starting her Master of Business Administration in January. Sims is an agribusiness major and will be pursuing a Master of Agricultural Economics. 
 

Every rodeo athlete is given five years of college rodeo eligibility, and since the pair is graduating a semester early, they still have a year and a half left to rodeo for Tarleton together.
 

A balance like Thomas and Sims is the blueprint for nearly every authentic friendship, in and outside of college rodeo.
 

“We’re both morally very similar and that just made us becoming friends so easy,” Thomas said. “Carlee’s literally the only person I could live with, travel with and be with all the time... I run myself in circles a lot of the time and she’s that reality check I need.”
 

Although Thomas considers Sims’ rationality to be the glue that holds her together, Sims views Thomas’ peppy nature just the same way.
 

“Our friendship being 50/50 is what keeps us grounded,” Sims said. “It’s not like one person makes all the decisions and the other person just follows, it’s give and take. I’ve never really had that in a person before. I was always the one that just did whatever the other one wanted to do. That’s why we work so well – we’d do anything for each other.”
 

With Thomas living over 10 hours away from home, her dad is someone who greatly values Sims always being there in his daughter’s corner. 
 

“I am so glad they found each other,” Matt Thomas said. “They stick by each other through the good and tough times. They bring out the best in one another, learn from one another and rely on one another, and they are both better for it. You just sleep better at night knowing Kaycee has that in her life.”
 

The task of building friendships in college is no doubt an intimidating one.
 

Very rarely do the closest of confidants simply fall out of the sky and into waiting laps. Effort has to be put in to make meaningful friendships, and this often starts outside the lines of comfortability. 
 

“You have to get involved because if not, you’ll be left in the dust,” Sims said. “You have to be outgoing and step outside of your boundaries, and that was something really hard for me coming to college. Be open to doing things, and don’t be afraid to take the risk and ask to do something with people you don’t necessarily know yet.”
 

Thomas views the importance of getting involved on a similar basis – a basis that requires following through on those initial encounters. 
 

“You have to make those connections and take opportunities into your own hands,” Thomas said. “Don’t wait for other people to hand things to you because they’re not going to. After Carlee and I met, two days later I was asking her if she wanted to go eat at Fuzzy’s with me, and now she’s one of my best friends… I always say iron sharpens iron, and Carlee is just that for me.”
 

The phrase iron sharpens iron is one that perfectly exemplifies the tightly knit bond between the two throughout their journey of college rodeo, and although that’s certainly true, the friendship of Carlee Sims and Kaycee Thomas isn’t just that of a chemical element, but is now more of an alloyed steel they’ll take beyond the college rodeo arena.