Sisters to compete in event

Two sisters who attend Robert E. Lee Academy will be competing this weekend in the South Carolina High School Rodeo Association (SCHRA) Rodeo at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday at Antioch Community Center on Antioch Road near the Byrdtown area of Hartsville.

Morgan Campbell, 14, was on the national high school wrangler division rodeo team and represented South Carolina in New Mexico in June, where she won two buckles. The wrangler division is for grades six, seven and eight. The entire family made the 13-day trip.

Morgan will compete this weekend for the first time in the high school division with her sister, Brandi, 17, a senior at Robert E. Lee.

“I’m excited about it,” Morgan said.

Brandi said she thinks it will be fun to compete against her sister.

“I have always gone to rodeos and had watched the other women do it,” she said. Brandi said she learned a lot by watching others compete. Brandi told her parents she wanted to try competing. “They got me a horse, and I took lessons.”

She said that you have to have a quarter horse for the rodeo events and you have to keep the horse in shape. The girls practice with their horse KJ several times a week. The girls share a horse but have had their own horses.

The sisters are from Timmonsville, and both are members of the SCHRA. They have both qualified for the Nationals to be held in Gillete, Wyoming, in 2010. To qualify you have to be one of the top four in the state finals.

“I like the barrel race the best,” said Morgan, who is in her second year of rodeo competition. Her rodeo events are barrel racing and goat tying.

Brandi, who is in her third year of competing, said, “I like the competition. I like the barrel race, pole bending and goat tying.”

The two sisters go all over South Carolina, North Carolina and Georgia to compete every weekend August through November and March through May, said their mother, Stephanie Campbell.

Morgan said she has been interested in the rodeo since she was a little girl.

“All of our lives,” said Brandi.

“Since they were in diapers,” said their mother.

Their parents grew up riding and have about 10 horses on their farm in the Cartersville community of Florence County. Stephanie said the family participates in trail riding, but she and her husband, Dondi, don’t compete in rodeo events.

Both girls agreed they would rather be competing in the rodeo than doing most anything else.

“It brings the family closer together,” said Brandi. “It is a good family outing.”

“It keeps the girls out of trouble Friday and Saturday nights,” said Stephanie.

To compete in the school-age events in the rodeo, the girls have to maintain good grades. No failures are allowed. They have to have a signed form from the school stating they are passing all of their subjects in order to compete.
The girls said they are about the only ones in this area who compete in rodeo events.

“There are more people from the Upstate than here,” said Stephanie.

They are very active and outgoing girls and love to do any outdoor activities as well as being with family and friends. There hobbies include shopping, wake boarding, 4-wheeling and participating in rodeos.

The next rodeo events in the area will be Sept. 10-11 in Ruby and Oct. 23-24 in McBee. Info: www.schsrodeo.org