story by Ruth Nicolaus
Nathan Lancaster is one of the farthest eastern-residing members of the Nebraska High School Rodeo Association.
The team roper, who lives outside Beatrice, Neb., in the southeast corner of the state, began his high school rodeo career this spring.
He heels for his brother, Cameron, on his bay paint horse, Billy. The family has owned Billy for the past couple of years, and Billy loves his job of heeling.
Nathan is a senior at Beatrice High School, where he has a 4.0 grade point average and is a member of the National Honor Society. He sings tenor in the choir and show choir, plays trombone in the band and center on the basketball team, and is a member of the school’s Renaissance student program.
He is also involved in 4-H horse shows with his other horse, River, a six-year-old sorrel who is the “funniest horse you’ll ever meet,” he said. River sniffs everybody and everything and acts like a dog.
This year, he won the state 4-H record book contest and will go on to represent Nebraska in November in Atlanta at the National 4-H Congress. He also finished the 4-H season in fourth place at state in the heeling.
This fall, Nathan is taking a tough lineup of classes: calculus, advanced placement chemistry, and advanced biology. He’d like to study agricultural engineering in college, and although biology isn’t necessary for that career path, he’s taking the class in case he switches majors.
For fun, he loves to hang out with family and friends and play basketball on his friends’ driveways or on a court in town. This summer, he visited the Lake of the Ozarks with the high school basketball team and loved it.
His parents, Jim and Janet Lancaster, both rodeoed, and encouraged their sons to do the same. But Nathan and Cameron didn’t feel ready to rope in the high school association till this spring. Nathan is glad he is rodeoing. “I am enjoying it very much,” he said. He loves meeting new people and competing. “It’s just a blast.”
In addition to his brother, Nathan has two sisters: Kylie, who is twelve, and Lynsie, who is eleven.
