CHEYENNE, WY – Growing up, Laramie County Community College junior Payton Feyder was always looking for her competitive edge in roping. After all, growing up around her house, it always seemed like bragging rights were on the line.

“We grew up in a rodeo family,” she said. “My dad always had guys that worked for us and they would come rope at our house every night and every steer we would run was a bet or a match and it was all for bragging rights and so I got a lot of my competitive edge just being brought up that way.”

Even if it wasn’t at her home, there was always someplace to find some action and she was never one to turn down a challenge.

“There was a pretty good abundance of jackpots and everyone that’s around (Elko, Nevada) ropes really well, so you could go to anybody’s house on any given day and rope with someone that was better than you. That’s part of what made me so good was we went and roped with a lot of people all the time from a young age.”

With all of the practice at home, she said her family was not only supportive all along the way, but also had an expectation that she would succeed and do well at any level including once she made the trip to Cheyenne as a freshman to rope for the Golden Eagles.

“My parents expected a lot out of us and they supported us a lot,” Feyder explained. “When I came to school it was to rodeo and that was the only reason I came to college. They are excited and they are proud of what I’ve gotten done.”

Fast forward to her time at LCCC and it’s no surprise that she is heading to her second College National Finals Rodeo in a row as the only representative for the Golden Eagles from the women’s team.

That was the goal all season for Feyder, who was on top of the Central Rocky Mountain Region standings in breakaway for much of the fall before a rough spring threatened to derail her ride to Casper for the second season.

“My spring season wasn’t great but my roping wasn’t terrible,” she said. “I could have drawn a little better but I’m definitely going to practice a little bit different here on out and go to some jackpots just to gain some confidence again going back to Casper.”

After making the college finals already, she said she feels just the experience lends her a competitive edge on the competition regardless of the close call in qualifying.

“I feel like I prepared last time as best I could but I had never been there before so I didn’t know what to expect,” Feyder said. “Where this year I’ve been there and I think I’ll prepare a little differently knowing that I’ve been there already.”

The return to the CNFR for Feyder puts here in rare company for LCCC rodeo on the women’s side, where not many have made back-to-back trips to college rodeo’s biggest stage and she doesn’t just take pride in what that means for her, but also what that says about the program she has helped to re-establish and build.

“I think it speaks a lot for what Seth and Vicki and Dean have done. Bernie and I are both going back and just to see us go back repeat years in the same events just shows you how well established this program is and the direction they are going.”

Feyder has one more year to continue to establish a mark on the program and she is going to be joined by a familiar face for the 2023-24 season when her brother makes the trip east from Nevada to rope for the Golden Eagles.

“I think it’s going to be a unique opportunity for us to rope together next year as Golden Eagles and I think we are going to have a lot of success together,” she said.

Not only that, but Feyder feels the women’s team is ready to break through next season and has the talent to finally break through as a team after finishing in third in the region the past two years.

“There’s some huge talent at LCCC,” she added. “I’m hoping next year we can get the ball rolling as a team and have some other girls qualify because the talent in the breakaway that we have at this school is insane, so I really want us to fill all three spots next year.”

All it will take is helping to find that competitive edge and building on the bond that began in practices this year which featured a healthy competition in jackpots every Wednesday to add pressure and make each run mean a bit more.

“I feel like you level up when you are around people that are better than you so I hope to bring that aspect to everybody and that we can all build off each other success and do it as a team.”

“I feel our whole team has been really good about supporting each other and that’s a big part of success,” she added. “I just hope having a competitive edge makes you better so I’m hoping next year the girls will be more confident and we can make each other better.”

Next year is still at least a week away for Feyder as she sets her sights on Sunday’s Bulls, Broncs, and Breakaway event to open the CNFR at the Casper Events Center. And the first step to becoming a three-time qualifier begins with finding that next competitive edge.

“I feel like when I came to college my main goal was just to make the college finals. Obviously, I want to win the college finals but to go back two consecutive years means a lot and I’m hoping to make it a third.”