Profile: Dustin Schwartz

Sophomore Dustin Schwartz loves to rope.
“I’ve probably been in over a thousand rodeos since I was in third grade or so,” Schwartz said.
All that practice paid off this past October, when Schwartz won the National Roping Competition in Guthrie, Oklahoma.
Nationals aren’t the end of the road, though. Schwartz is continually preparing for upcoming rodeos. He ropes every day during the summer, and as often as possible during school.
“I rope for practice three or more times a week and go to jackpots on the weekends. Every night I also throw100 loops at the roping dummy. While I’m at school I rope the dummy as much as I can. It is like any other sport; the more you practice the better you will be.”
The national roping title has been his career highlight so far. Schwartz won the #8 team roping with Dexter Becker of Beaver City. The team won with a time of 33.03 seconds for all four steers they roped, giving them the fastest total time in the competition.
“Down at Nationals, the kid that I won it with [Becker], we didn’t know each other,” Schwartz said. “But we both knew the same guy, and we walked up and wanted to rope with him, and he told us to rope together instead. So we ended up roping together and winning it [Nationals]. So it was kind of cool that we had just met some random guy end ended up winning a National competition.”
Schwartz also placed seventh overall with team member Darren Smith of Wellfleet with a time of 41.88 seconds.
“The competition at nationals is extremely hard,” Schwartz explained. “In order to get a national USTRC [United States Team Roping Championships] shootout I had to win at either a state or a regional level. There are ropers there from every state in the U.S. and also people there from Canada and Australia, including NFL football players and PBR [Professional Bull Riders].
Schwartz, who has been roping for most of his life, said his father taught him everything he knew, and that they train and practice on their ranch outside of Mullen.
“Mullen has a population of about 500 people, so everyone knows everyone. I live on a ranch where I help my dad raise Corrientes (Mexican rodeo cattle) and train our roping horses.”
One important factor to Schwartz’s success is Randy, his five-year-old quarter horse.
“Every night that I practice roping I rope off of him [Randy] to keep him in shape and ready for competition,” Schwartz said. “I also ride him when I move our cattle from pasture to pasture. To have a horse in top condition he must be able to trot two miles. Randy is one of the top horses in the country because I have spent countless hours training him. I keep him legged up and I wrap his legs to prevent injuries; a horse that knows he will not get hurt will perform better.”
First-year student Cammie Schwartz, Dustin’s younger sister, has also been involved in rodeo activities, although she said she participated mainly for the fun of it, and isn’t as competitive as the rest of her family.
Cammie said her favorite part of watching her family rope is when they are able to do it together.
“The best is when my dad and my brothers are partnered together, or when my brothers are partnered together and do well. My dad had a lot of success with rodeos, so it’s cool to see my brothers kind of following in his footsteps.”
Schwartz said one of his favorite parts about going to rodeos is getting to meet a wide variety of people, including country singers and world-class ropers.
“I like getting to meet a lot of people,” Schwartz said. “It’s a really good time overall.”
Schwartz has met a variety of singers, including Charlie Daniels, Red Steagall, Life House, Dierks Bentley, and George Strait.
Schwartz’s family attends quite a few rodeos throughout the year, although they try to stay close to home.
Cammie said that she enjoys watching her family rope.
“It’s really cool,” Cammie said. “When you’re at a competition it’s kind of nerve-wracking, just because you never know what’s going to happen. Sometimes it’s just bad luck; you draw the wrong steer or your partner doesn’t do well. But it’s awesome when they do well and you get to see it. It always makes you proud to be like ‘Oh yeah, that’s my brother.’”
Schwartz is also involved with football and track at Doane, and is a Directions student as well. He is studying Computer Science, with a minor in Math.
After graduating, Schwartz plans to manage the arena of a man from Kearney.
“This would involve me training horses and roping cattle, giving roping lessons, giving riding lessons, planning and scheduling rodeo events, along with many other jobs,” Schwartz said. “He [the owner] is very understanding and is going to let me take off work whenever I need to so that I can go to my rodeos.”