Meet The Thompsons: NLBRA All-Around Champions & An All-Around Family
Meet The Thompsons: NLBRA All-Around Champions & An All-Around Family
The Thompsons: this large rodeo family is all-around handy in the rodeo arena & proved it when 2 of the sisters won all-around titles at the NLBRA finals.
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The Thompson family had their hands full at the 2018 National Little Britches Rodeo Association Finals in Guthrie, Oklahoma, in mid-July. Five of the siblings were there, competing on almost a dozen horses, but that’s nothing for this family of 10, with eight kids ranging from 2 to 22.
“It’s a lot of work,” said Jacey Thompson, the eldest of the five competing at the NLBRA. “We had 11 horses with us here this year so between chores, getting myself ready, and keeping practiced, it’s a lot.
“But I wouldn’t be where I’m at without them.”
The family consists of Jamie (22), Jacey (19), Haiden (14), Tiegen (12), Hadley (10), Turek (8), Tinlee (3), and Taisley (2). Five of the eight (Jacey, Haiden, Tiegen, Hadley, and Turek) were all competing at the NLBRA Finals this year.
A win for one is a win for the family and this family had many buckles, saddles, and other prizes to pack home with them. Jacey won the world title in the senior goat tying, was No. 14 in the senior barrels, No. 2 in the senior breakaway, and 15 in the trail course, which all combined to earn her the senior girls all-around world title.
Sister Haiden won the world in the junior girls trail course, was No. 5 in the junior girls goat tying, ninth in the junior girls breakaway, and earned enough points to take home her own world all-around title in the junior category.
Brothers Teigen and Turek also saw themselves inside the top 15 in the world at the end of the finals, with Teigen placing 14th in the junior boys goat tying and Turek leaving as the No. 3 man in the little wrangler goat untying.
The family seems to be able to not only produce tough competitors, but tough kids all around. This was proven when Jacey broke her toe during round two of competition but didn’t miss a beat when she came back to win the short round with a time of 6.960 – closing out her clean sweep of all three rounds.
“Today in my run I was kind of worried about my foot,” said Thompson. “But I just went out and I want to show everyone what I can do and what I do best.”
“Once I got off the goat, I felt it.”
The family seems to excel in the goat tying. In 2017, three of the sisters won every girls goat tying title at the NLBRA Finals – Hadley won the little wranglers, Haiden won the junior girls, and Jacey won the senior girls goat tying title.
To do well in rodeo you need to be able to handle the pressures of competition – something a family with eight siblings probably knows all too well in everything they do.
“In practice, we really push ourselves to be better,” said Jacey. “Everyone sees things – there’s a lot of critiquing that happens.”
This family got the reap the rewards of their hard work at the 2018 finals, as sisters gave a quick hug to congratulate each other on their all-around titles, and the family gathered for pictures right before they packed all of their new hardware back to the trailers to head out to the next rodeo.
Congratulations to all of the 2018 National Little Britches Rodeo Association Finals World All-Around Champions:
