HASTINGS RODEO WRAPS UP: Nebraska cowboys, cowgirl among winners in Hastings

HASTINGS, NEB. – (August 17, 2025) – A Nebraska man took the steer wrestling title at the 34th annual Oregon Trail Rodeo in Hastings this weekend.

Hoyt Kraeger, Weeping Water, Neb., had a time of 3.7 seconds to best the field of steer wrestlers.

It’s been a good year for the 32-year-old cowboy.

He not only won the Hastings rodeo, but in June won the Buffalo Bill Rodeo in North Platte.

Kraeger was aboard a horse owned by his brother, Reed, two years his junior and also a steer wrestler.

The horse is a big part of the equation when it comes to steer wrestling, and Reed has two of them, both equally talented, a gray horse and a bay horse. He also has a haze horse, ridden by the hazer, the cowboy who rides alongside the steer to make the steer run straight for the steer wrestler.

“Reed’s done a really great job of putting together horses,” Hoyt said. “He put together a team (of horses) that are equally good, and it doesn’t matter which one you get on. You don’t feel slighted if you’re asked to ride one or the other.” Hoyt’s North Platte victory was aboard Reed’s bay horse; in Hastings, he rode the gray.

Hoyt praised his sister-in-law and niece, Reed’s wife Rebekah and their twelve-year-old daughter Rosemary, for all their help with the horses at home (Reed lives in Waco, Neb.) while he and Reed are on the rodeo road.

“They spend a lot of time riding horses down the county road,” he said, “and making sure they’re ready and cared for, whether it’s doing chores while Reed and I are gone, or exercising them. Rebekah and Rosemary do a lot of stuff behind the scenes that doesn’t get seen in the arena but certainly leads to success.”

Niece Rosemary is picky about how she cares for the horses, and Hoyt appreciates that. “She knows what she’s doing, and she’s pretty particular with putting sports boots on horses, or cleaning them, or whatever. She’s paying attention. Keeping horses ridden is part of her daily chores. She’s pretty handy, and she’s a lot of help.”

Hoyt and Reed travel together nearly all the time, which Hoyt enjoys. “There’s another level of comfort traveling with your brother. A lot of things go unspoken, because you have thirty years of experience with him.”

In the bareback riding, a win for Michigan cowboy Blayn Hughston will make his ten-hour-drive to Snyder, Texas more enjoyable.

School starts tomorrow at Western Texas College in Snyder, Texas, and Hughston, who is a sophomore, has class at 8 am.

This was the first time for the McBain, Michigan man to compete in Hastings; he scored 84.5 points on the Korkow Rodeo horse Fish Butter to win the title.

Michigan boasts only one PRCA rodeo, held in the Upper Peninsula in Iron River, and McBain won the bareback riding at it this year. His family produces rodeos in the International Pro Rodeo Association (IPRA) and hosts the largest outdoor IPRA Rodeo in the state, Cow Camp, held over Labor Day weekend.

A Cornhusker won the bull riding.  

Brady Painter, Ainsworth, scored 76 points on the Korkow Rodeo bull Blofeld to win the championship.

The 22-year-old is from a rodeo family. His parents, Bryon and Kelly Painter rodeoed, as did his brother and sister. His mom’s dad, Bernie Micheel, was a bull rider.

Painter nearly didn’t make the eight second buzzer. “The bull bucked to the left,” he said, “and I was in (seated) in the middle of him, then I was hanging off to the side of him.” But Painter persevered, staying on for the eight seconds.

He hung on. “I knew the whistle was coming soon.”

It wasn’t Painter’s first time to compete at the Adams County Fairgrounds; in high school, he qualified for the Nebraska State High School Finals Rodeos four times, when it was held in Hastings. He is a 2022 graduate of Ainsworth High School.

Other champions at the rodeo include ranch bronc rider Rhett Brown, Bertrand, Neb.; tie-down roper Mason Stueve, Newton, Kan. (9.2 seconds); breakaway roper Makayla Wray, Ord, Neb. (2.3 seconds); saddle bronc rider Taylen Nelson, Wibaux, Mont. (83 points); team ropers Klay Yaussi and Kash Yaussi, Udall, Kan. (5.0 seconds); and barrel racer Prairie Robbins, Brookville, Kan. (17.33 seconds).

During the rodeo, the 2025 Miss Oregon Trail Rodeo queen was crowned.

Sydney Bartels, Campbell, Neb., won the title. A sophomore at the University of Nebraska-Kearney, she is studying early childhood and elementary education. She is the daughter of Todd and Becky Bartels.

On Tough Enough to Wear Pink night, August 16, a “big check” in the amount of $2,591 was presented to the Morrison Cancer Center. Monies were raised through voluntary donations at the rodeo and go to the Cancer Center’s “From the Heart” fund. Since 2007, the rodeo has raised more than $55,000 for the fund.

For more information on this year’s rodeo, visit the fairgrounds website at AdamsCountyFairgrounds.com.  For complete results, visit ProRodeo.com.