Jackrabbit Stampede rides into Brookings

64th annual SDSU rodeo at Swiftel Center Friday, Saturday

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BROOKINGS – The South Dakota State University rodeo team will kick up the dust at the 64th annual Jackrabbit Stampede Rodeo Friday and Saturday at the Swiftel Center in Brookings. 

Tickets are on sale now at the Swiftel Center Box Office, by phone at 800-745-3000 and online at Ticketmaster.com. Advance tickets are $19 for adults, $11 for children and $13 for SDSU students. Prices increase by $1.50 apiece day-of-show. 

For every ticket purchased, $3 goes directly back to the SDSU Jackrabbit Stampede Rodeo team. 

Attendees will watch intense rodeo action with the initial competition beginning at 7 p.m. Friday and continuing at 1 p.m. and 7 p.m. Saturday.

Saturday night’s performance includes Tough Enough to Wear Pink, and attendees are asked to wear their T-shirts in support. The SDSU Jackrabbit women’s rodeo team is ranked second nationally and second in the Great Plains Region. The men’s rodeo team is ranked seventh in the Great Plains Region. 

“The SDSU rodeo is not just an event that showcases our rodeo talents in our school and region, but it’s a way we get to honor the members that came before us, thank the sponsors that make what we do possible, and inspire younger people of today to follow their dreams whether that be in the rodeo arena or in other aspects of life,” said Tyra Leonhardt, senior at SDSU and originally from Groton.

“Please come out to our SDSU rodeo and help us honor those people and inspire others.”

SDSU rodeo participants compete in 10 rodeos during the year in the Great Plains Region, five in the spring and five in the fall. The team travels 5,500 miles around South Dakota, North Dakota, Iowa, Wisconsin and Nebraska representing SDSU. The SDSU club started in 1952 with 40 students meeting in the basement of the South Dakota Agricultural Heritage Museum, and 10 of them traveled to compete. Today, the rodeo club has grown to 60 with more than 40 team members competing in rodeos throughout the year. 

For more information, visit www.swiftelcenter.com, call 692-7539 and follow the Swiftel Center on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.