BILLINGS, Mont. – The University of Providence rodeo team kicked off their season this week with the Montana State Spring Rodeo.

Though no one on the team qualified for the short round Friday night, the first two ways were still a success. Cayden Diefenbach was .1 seconds away from making the Top 10 short round for Friday night with a good showing at the barrel race. Jami Addison also performed well for the team. 

"Cayden did a great job," head coach Sylvan La Cross said. "She was so close. Jamie also had a good run for being on a new horse. I was extremely proud of how she did at the arena last night."

In breakaway roping, McKinnon Little missed her slack, costing her a chance of advancing to the short round.

"It was one simple slip up and otherwise we're moving on," La Cross said. "We're scratching knees and looking forward to what happens tomorrow."

The event marks the first rodeo for the team since Sept. 29, 2019 at Montana Western. The team was just about to kick off their spring season before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the season.  

"It's pretty nice to be back," La Cross said. "We're happy to be back and competing, even amidst all the COVID struggles. We're going to do whatever we can to be back and make it work. We're all happy and proud to be back playing rodeo. The kids are excited."

The team will regroup quickly and be ready to go for the final two days of the four-day event. Tomorrow's events will begin at 10:00 a.m.

"Most of the kids kind of know what mistakes they made," La Cross said. "They've all played the game long enough and know what they have to do better. It's a new set of cattle that we haven't got to see. It's not like we're down in the dumps as far as our performance goes. Cayden missing out on the short round was definitely a heartbreaker for having a great run. It's going to fuel the fire to come back even better."