Averill balances tennis, rodeo time committment

By FAITH MOLDAN

Bigfork Eagle

Teenagers may be thought to be indecisive by nature, but that's not the case with Quindee Averill and her dedication to not one, but two demanding sports.

Averill, a junior at Bigfork High School, competes with both the BHS girls tennis team and the Flathead Valley High School Rodeo team. Both sports have been a part of her life since she was much younger. Averill has ridden horses and been interested in rodeo all her life. She began playing tennis between the fourth and fifth grades.

"She's team roped at the lodge with me for a couple of years," Doug Averill, Quindee's father and one of the rodeo team's coaches said. "She's done barrel racing for a while."

While Averill's already put in years' worth of practice and time, she must still dedicate more to make it to both tennis and rodeo practices and competitions.

"It was hard during basketball season," she said. "I'd show up late to rodeo practice or in my basketball shorts."

During tennis season, Averill said she either leaves practice early or skips it, and is able to skip non-conference matches if they conflict with weekend rodeos.

"It's hard to fit it all in," Doug said. "Somehow she makes it work."

Averill makes it work due in part of her love of both sports and desire to continue competing in rodeo after high school. She plans on competing during the high school team's fall and spring seasons next year as well.

"They're something I can do for a long time," she said of both sports. She added that she hopes to attend college in either Colorado, Montanaa or Washington and compete in rodeo there as well as possibly study veterinary science. "I want to go to the next level."

Averill's dad and uncles competed in college and on the Montana circuit. Her uncle Darv is also a roping coach for the rodeo team.

"I know they know what they're talking about," she said, adding that it's sometimes interesting having them on the road with her and the rest of the team.

"It's a big area where we can spread out," Doug said of the team's practice facility in Kalispell. "The kids have come along tremendously in the past three months."

Flathead Valley High School Rodeo team competes in District 5 and is comprised of students from Bigfork, Flathead High School, Glacier High School, Columbia Falls and Whitefish. The team's home rodeo is May 31 in Kalispell. Each team in the district holds its own qualifier, in which competitors earn points to qualify for other, bigger rodeos.

Among the events Averill competes in are pole bending, breakaway roping, team roping and barrel racing.

"It's definitely an all-day thing. I enjoy being with the horses," she said of the rodeos. Besides the actual competition, Averill must also feed and water her horses, drive to and from the rodeos, and load and unload the horses.

"They know when it's time. You can feel their heart beat when you're sitting on them before an event," she said of the horses. She uses two to compete and both horses can do all the events.

Averill's father said her best event is barrel racing and is getting more involved in breakaway roping.

"She can head or heel. She's a better header," he said. "She's taken a great interest in it on her own. She works at it every day."