The National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association’s Great Plains Region recently awarded a collegiate rodeo competition to Mid-Plains Community College to be held during North Platte’s Rail Fest in September.

The “2013 Railtown U.S.A. Collegiate Rodeo” is scheduled to take place Sept. 20-21 at the Nebraskaland Days Wild West Arena in North Platte. Twelve men’s teams and nine women’s collegiate rodeo teams from Nebraska, Iowa, South Dakota, North Dakota and Wisconsin compete in the Great Plains Region.

“When you consider that our rodeo program began only three years ago, the fact that we now have world champion Dustin Elliot as our head coach and now we have been awarded to host one of the 10 competitions in our region, I think that says a lot about the positive direction of our program,” said Marcus Garstecki, North Platte Community College Vice President.