story by Ruth Nicolaus
Sydney Hollenbeck has survived a tornado.
The seventeen-year-old cowgirl, who lives eighteen miles southwest of Winner, South Dakota, was just returning from a Nebraska High School rodeo when it struck. “We followed the storm the whole way home,” she said. “We were home a half hour when it hit.” Sydney, along with her mom and dad, Scott Hollenbeck and Teresa Novotny, were in the basement about five minutes before the tornado hit their ranch.
“The power went off, and you could hear the doors banging from the suction, and glass shattering. It was scary.”
The tornado did some damage to the inside of their home, but they were able to live in it as it was repaired. It destroyed a garage and a barn, but the most amazing thing was their month old Brahma bucking bull. He was in the barn that was demolished, and when the family saw the barn was gone, “we figured the calf was gone, too,” Sydney said. “We were upset, because he had good bucking bloodlines.”
But Baby, as the bull calf was named, was OK. The tornado didn’t harm him, and now he has a new name, Twister Baby.
When she’s not dodging tornadoes, Sydney is competing in the Nebraska High School Rode Association as a breakaway roper and pole bender. Her pole horse is a sixteen year old sorrel named Okie, who she has ridden for eight years. Her breakaway horse is an eight year old blue roan named Blue. She also 4-H rodeos in South Dakota.
Sydney is a senior at Winner (S.D.) High School, where her favorite teacher is Mr. Hanson, her math teacher, because he’s laid back and fun. “He makes math fun and easy to understand,” she said. He, along with her dad and other chaperones, escorted high school students to Washington, D.C. last summer, which Sydney enjoyed.
She plays volleyball and basketball and is president of the Wilson Wildcats 4-H Club. She is a member of FFA, is senior class secretary, and is a National Honor Society member.
After high school, she may attend South Dakota State University in Brookings, but she doesn’t plan on rodeoing collegiately. “I’ll take a break from it, and be an ordinary college kid, go to class, get good grades, and have fun.” She currently competes in the S.D. Rodeo Association, the Nebraska State Rodeo Association, and the Mid-States Rodeo Association.
She has competed at state finals the last six years: three years in junior high and three years in high school. She has qualified for the National Junior and High School Finals Rodeo five of the last six years.
