Garrett Varilek and Forrest Wagoner both qualified for the College National Finals Rodeo, to
be held June 11-17 in Casper, Wyo., after finishing out the spring rodeo season strong. Varilek
is ranked first in the Great Plains Region and eighth in the nation, while Wagoner is third in
the region.

“The CNFR is the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow for college rodeo,” Mavericks head
coach Jimmie Nicolaus said. “The CNFR in Casper, referred to as the ‘Rose Bowl of College
Rodeo,’ is where everybody wants to be in June. It’s great to be sending our student-athletes
to the CNFR again, and we look forward to being in Saturday night’s championship finals.”
It’s an arena neither expected to ride in, but Nicolaus said each has earned his ride.

“These guys have stepped into leadership positions that I’ve kind of thrust upon them,” he
said. “Last year, (Varilek) won saddle bronc riding at the last rodeo of the season,” after
competing just one year in high school rodeo. Varilek graduated in 2022 with a Powerline
Construction and Maintenance degree, but “I think that was a big catalyst for him to return
this year to prove that that finish wasn’t a fluke,” Nicolaus said.

“It was always a dream of mine since I was very little to ride broncs, but my parents never
wanted me to do it,” Varilek said. “It was just in my blood. My grandfather rode bareback
horses, and I always wanted to do it, so I finally just did, and I was in love right away. I came to
MTC because I wanted to be a part of the rodeo team. I didn’t expect to get anything out of it.
Three years ago, if you would have asked me where I’d be today, I would have never guessed it
would be the CNFR to ride broncs.”

Similarly, Wagoner, who had never rodeoed competitively before coming to Mitchell Tech,
found the confidence he needed in his first year, as a Powerline Construction and
Maintenance student, after a chance encounter with Nicolaus.

“He noticed I was wearing a sweatshirt for a college rodeo team in California. He knows the
coach out there, so he struck up a conversation and invited me to the first rodeo meeting last
year,” Wagoner said. “I never looked back.”

Wagoner was able to build off some natural instincts, according to Nicolaus.

“He had all the tools,” he said, adding that he had toyed with the sport on ranches in high
school. “We just kind of needed to get them organized in his toolbelt. It was rewarding to see
him rise to the occasion and saying, ‘I can ride at this level.’”

When he wasn’t climbing power poles or riding, Wagoner ran and lifted weights to build up his
strength and endurance for the sport, consistently improving his ride, rodeo after rodeo.

“It kept me away from some other dangerous things I could be doing. It gave me a place to
put my mind toward something and work toward a truly challenging task. It also gave me time
in the hotel to study for my tests and do my homework,” he said, adding that his roommate
and fellow Maverick, Logan Miller, inspired him to keep his studies a priority. “It gave me a
little break between school. Sometimes the powerline program would get really (intense) and I
would get behind in my other schoolwork. Then, I’d go to a rodeo, and I would have time in the
hotel to focus on schoolwork in the hotel.”

After that first year, Wagoner, originally from Melrose, Mont., and Varilek, of Rapid City, had
forged a friendship as each pushed the other to be a better bronc rider.

“We hardly knew each other in Powerline, other than rodeo, but there we grew a great
relationship and started hanging out a lot and then lived together,” Varilek said.

When he decided to come back to Mitchell for a second year of college, studying Electrical
Utilities and Substation Technology, however, he insisted that Varilek join him, and
encouraged him to strive to qualify for the CNFR.

“He talked me into it, but I am glad he did, or I wouldn’t be going to the CNFR, and my career
path wouldn’t have turned out the same,” said Varilek, who graduated last month from the
Progressive Welding program. Insisting that Wagoner set his sights higher, too, Varilek told
his friend, “‘You better be coming, too.’”

“He said, ‘I’m not going (to the CNFR) if you’re not going,’ so I had to make it happen,”
Wagoner said, “but it is pretty crazy, because I would have never expected to get here. I
remember looking last year at all of the competition and seeing all of these faces I’d never
seen before and would be competing against. Now, to be going and representing Mitchell
Tech, I just can’t describe it. It all comes down to whittling away at goals. (Because of
Varilek), the CNFR got into my vision of goals, and I just didn’t look away. I had to get there.”
In Casper, Wagoner and Varilek will reunite in their Mitchell Tech green vests for one last
rodeo and a week of memories that they each will take home with them – but not to their own
families.

“We’ve traded places,” Wagoner said with a chuckle. “When I got hired in Rapid City, I talked
to him, and he suggested I live with his parents. Then, a guy I know who does pipe fence up in
Melrose needed a welder, so I suggested he apply. Now, he’s living with my parents.”
Varilek called the arrangement “very interesting.”

“You get a better understanding of their life and a deeper look at why they are the person
they are,” he said of living with his friend’s family. “I, 100 percent, feel like I’m a part of the
family. … They’ve been nothing but great to me, but I wouldn’t have expected anything else,
because he is a great person, too.”

Although they aren’t brothers, Varilek and Wagoner shared a brotherhood.

“Between me and Forrest, we just had the same mindset about what we wanted to do,”
Varilek said. “We were always very competitive and pushed each other.”
But “the work isn’t done,” Wagoner said. “We haven’t finished the job, so I continue to put in
the reps and get ready for the CNFR. There’s really stiff competition there, and I’m
representing Mitchell Tech and South Dakota. This will be on TV. My grandparents will be
watching, so I have to give it all I’ve got.”
Both Mavericks will compete Sunday and Monday evenings, with Varilek drawn to compete
Tuesday evening and Wagoner on Thursday evening. The finals are Saturday. Starting
Tuesday, the CNFR will air at 8 p.m. nightly on ESPN3.