story by Ruth Nicolaus
When Jacelyn Frost needs a rodeo role model, she doesn’t have to look far.
She can always look to her second cousin, Lane Frost, and her older brothers, Joe, Josh and Jate Frost.
Jacelyn, an eighth grader in the Utah Junior High School Rodeo Association, competes in the goat tying, breakaway roping, barrel racing, pole bending, team roping and ribbon roping. Of her events, goat tying is her favorite, partly because “I like having something more to do than just riding my horse.” She heels for Allee VanDyke and in the ribbon roping is the roper for Monty Christiansen.
For the roping, she rides Mitch, a sorrel with a stripe and three white socks. Mitch is new to the Frost ranch. For the goats, she rides Amber, another sorrel with a stripe and two white socks. She heels on a paint named Hutch, and she runs barrels on Marvin, another sorrel. Of her horses, Mitch is her favorite because they work together well. Mitch replaces Dash, who passed away in January. Dash, who was twenty-seven years old, had been ridden by Jacelyn and all three of her brothers. Tarzan is her backup rope horse.
She is an eighth grade student at Roosevelt Junior High School, where she loves math class but isn’t crazy about reading. Jacelyn participates in basketball and is on the honor roll. Her junior high basketball team, the Roosevelt Rough Riders, has only lost three games; she plays post or wing.
In her free time, she likes to watch pro basketball; her favorite teams are the Celtics and the Jazz. She enjoys watching women’s college basketball, too.
Her favorite meal her mom makes is hamburgers, with mustard and pickles. Her favorite snack is an orange; her favorite drink is water or lemonade. Her mom makes a mean chocolate sheet cake, and she loves Oreo candy bars. Her most favorite trip was to the National Junior High Finals Rodeo in Lebanon, Tenn., last year, where she competed in the goat tying. Her favorite song is Perfect by Ed Sheeran, and her favorite movies are Jumanji and The Cowboys with John Wayne.
When she grows up, she’d like to be a dental hygienist, because it pays well and she’ll “be able to help my kids in rodeo.” She’d like to compete in regional rodeos as a goat tyer.
Jacelyn has been to the Wilderness Circuit Finals and the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo, to watch her brothers compete there (Joe is a four-time WNFR qualifier). Last year, she helped Joe with his autograph sessions at Cowboy Christmas, and she got to watch him ride in the first three rounds before she had to come home for school. Being the youngest child and only daughter with three older brothers can be rough; the boys like to pick on her and tease her, and sometimes they get in fights because “they don’t like to listen to me,” she said.
She is the daughter of Shane and Lisa Frost.