By Rich Winter

605 Sports

Rock Springs, Wyo. —- The last two rodeo seasons have been filled with a lot of heartache and disappointment for Woonsocket’s Tierney Breen. 

Following a freshman year where she was told she may never ride her goat-tying mare and a sophomore season that was slowed by two knee surgeries, Breen finds herself at the National High School Finals Rodeo in Rock Springs, Wyoming, for the first time. 

“To win the state title in goat tying meant a lot to me,” Breen. “I work really hard at the sport and it’s my favorite event. I haven’t had the best of luck in the sport and it felt like all of my hard work finally paid off.”

Entering her freshman season Breen’s horse “Marge” got something caught in a joint. That joint infection turned into a bone infection. The family sent the X-rays to Rapid City and they told Tierney she may never be able to ride Marge again. 

“After 22 months of recovery I roped my first goat off her in May of 2024,” Breen said. “To win the state title with her this year made the experience just a little bit more special.” 

During her freshman year of high school Breen began experiencing knee pain. Rest didn’t help, nothing helped, and Breen said the pain got so bad that she didn’t even feel like goat tying anymore. A visit to the doctor resulted in the need to have two doner medial patellofemoral ligaments replaced. The MPFL is a thin ligament that connects the kneecap (patella) to the thigh bone (femur) on the inner side of the knee. It helps stabilize the knee and keeps the kneecap centered so it glides properly when the leg moves. 

“The cartilage in my knees was being destroyed,” Breen said. “I had one ligament replaced in November and the other one replaced four weeks later.” 

At the 2024 South Dakota High School Finals Rodeo, Breen was a measure of quickness and consistency. The soon-to-be senior posted runs of 6.98 seconds, 7.05 seconds and 7.10 seconds to win that state competition. 

“I have never been that consistent in my life,” she said. “I was either super fast or I fell apart. It was such a good feeling to see everything come together and fall into place.”

The falling apart piece of the equation is something Breen has worked on and finally made peace with. She says her junior high years and first two years of high school were years where she couldn’t handle any stress or nerves. Breen read books, listened to podcasts but nothing really helped. 

“I think my mental state has improved with maturity,” she said. “I made goat tying my whole life and it is literally a goat tied to the end of a rope. I finally realized that goat tying is not who I am, it's what I do and I’m just thankful I get to do it.” 

Breen leads a very strong South Dakota team of goat tyer’s into the national finals. 

“It is very hard to make the national team let alone place at nationals,” she said. “I think we had two or three girls make the short go at the 2023 finals and I think the girls in the state just have a fire for it. A lot of girls work very hard at this event and I think overall we just put a lot of time and effort into the event.”

This is Breen’s first trip to the national finals and she said she is looking forward to meeting people from all over the country. She’s also extremely proud to be representing Team South Dakota. 

“Rodeo in South Dakota is huge and we have the second biggest state finals behind Texas,” she said. “The Directors of the team are all amazing and it feels like all the South Dakota participants are rooting for each other so that makes it even more special.”