Wade and Sabrina Kreutzer have been roping together for 24 years. They have been part of the CPRA rodeo family since 1989; Wade served on the board for ten years as a team roping director in the late 1990s. “I always wanted to make a run at the NFR, but family came first,” said the 46-year-old # 7 header and 8+ heeler. “I’ve been able to rope with a lot of guys and I’ve met so many good friends through my roping. Back in the day, there was no point system, so it was open ropings. That’s all they had for a long time. We learned to reach; we didn’t rope close. We had to rope against all the toughs all the time. That made us better later on.”
Wade belongs to the PRCA, a card holder since 1989, as well as the USTRC and the World Series. Wade and Sabrina live on a ranch that his grandpa owned, 15 miles west of where he was born in Walsenburg, Colo. He put a rope in his hand when he was 11. “My mom and dad ran a gas station in LaVeta for 25 years. When I was 11, we moved out to a ranch and that’s when I started riding and roping with my cousins. That’s all I wanted to do.” He started out tie down roping. Wade’s dad showed him how to rope a bale of hay and he learned on his own, trial and error. When he was a sophomore in high school, he added team roping, entering the high school rodeos with partners he drew. He made it to the high school finals twice.
He went to college at LCCC in Cheyenne, rodeoing under Pinky Russel Walters for two years. “Tim Bath was our Timed Event coach and he taught a class in it.” He transferred to CSU Pueblo, where Sabrina was going to school, for two years. “College was outstanding for me. It was enter twice. I made the College National Finals my junior and senior year, and won third my last year, 1991, with Brian Espencheid.” That was the same year he married Sabrina. “We got married in March, and I went to the finals three months later.”
He settled into married life, raising two sons with Sabrina, training horses, coaching for the basketball and football teams, for the next 17 years, rodeoing in the circuit and at the CPRA rodeos. He was the Dodge National Circuit Champion in 2004 with Ryan Zurcher and again in 2006 with Mark Kersting. He qualified for them 5 or 6 times.
Wade and Sabrina had known each other through National Little Britches and started dating at the end of Wade’s sophomore year in college. She grew up in Penrose, Colo., and started her rodeo career before she was 8, competing in barrels and poles. “I did Little Britches all through growing up and high school rodeo, competing in barrels, poles, goats, and breakaway. She started team roping in high school, roping with her dad.” She went to college for one year at Pratt College in Kansas, and then transferred to CSU Pueblo and was a member of the rodeo club. “Butch Morgan was our coach and we entered ourselves … it wasn’t a bonafide sport there.” Sabrina made it to the CNFR twice in college. “The first year I competed in the breakaway, barrels, and goats.” She got a degree in physical education because of her love of gymnastics, something she competed in for ten years. Her first job was teaching fifth graders. She taught for a year, and then they moved to LaVeta and she taught PE for kindergarten through fifth grade. She taught for a year, and decided that she needed to stay home with her boys. “Clancey was three and Kyon was one and I was spending all day with someone else’s kids while someone was spending the day with mine.” She subbed on and off until Kyon graduated from high school. She coached gymnastics for two years in Florence and was assistant coach in Canon City for 1 year. The only thing that stopped Sabrina from roping was her two pregnancies. “I had Kyon in July 1994 but I still went to the CPRA Finals. I remember Wade roped with another girl when I couldn’t ride. But I was roping again in August.”
Full story available in our September 15, 2015 issue.
