long-distance team ropers

LAS VEGAS – Team ropers are no strangers to getting their gear together, loading their horses in the trailer and driving hours to the next rodeo.

Kaleb Rice and Colten Kehano, who are competing in the YETI Junior World Finals for the second year in a row, can only dream of that lifestyle.

Rice and Kehano are from Hawaii, so driving to Vegas obviously wasn’t an option.

“We shipped our horses to Arizona a couple months ago and then some guys roped off them in Oklahoma,” Rice, a 17-year-old senior at Waialua High School, explained. “And then we flew in and grabbed ‘em and came to Vegas.”

The two had a rough start to their week, finishing with three no-times in the open division.

“You can’t win ‘em all,” Rice said matter-of-factly as he walked his horse, Baby, back to the trailer.

Rice and Kehano know they have to have a short memory. They’ll be back in the Wrangler Rodeo Arena on Thursday and Friday for three more runs – four if they make the short go-round – in the #10.5 division.

“We’ll come back over here (Thursday) and hopefully be tuned up to do better,” said Kehano, a 16-year-old junior at King Kakaulika High School in Makawao. “This is a learning experience so we might as well take it. Get out to Vegas and see what the world has.”

Rice and Kehano have had success in the past, both in Vegas and in their home state. They finished fifth in the #10.5 at last year’s Junior World Finals and have won events and jackpots throughout Hawaii in recent years.

“We roped together in Maui (last year) and then we flew to the big island and roped there,” Rice said. “Then we decided to rope in a qualifier and try to make it to Vegas. And we got first and second in the open and first and second in the #10 (division).”

It was a welcome reunion after the two had drifted apart. With Rice living on the island of Oahu and Kehano living on the island of Maui, they weren’t always in the same location despite living just 130 miles apart.

“Caleb’s dad was my dad’s good friend and we started roping together when we were little,” said Kehano, who started roping when he was just two years old. “We hadn’t seen each other for a couple of years and then we went to the big island to see each other and decided to rope together.”

Added Rice: “We hadn’t roped together for years, but then we met up on the big island and got back together and it just clicked.”

They both admit that competing at the Junior World Finals against the best youth team ropers in the nation has opened their eyes to how tough the competition is on the mainland. But they also proved last year they can more than hold their own against the best, no matter the location.

Still, coming back to Vegas might not be in their future.

“It takes a lot of time and money to come up here,” Kehano said.

And there’s another deterrent: the weather. Wednesday in Vegas, temperatures were in the mid-50s. It was almost 80 degrees in Oahu.

“Vegas is too cold,” Rice said. “This is freezing to me.”