By Rich Winter

605 Sports

Woonsocket’s Tierney Breen had her sophomore year of high school all planned out. Home school through a program called Ingenuity and spend every possible moment outside the classroom honing her rodeo skills. 

Toward the end of rodeo season last fall, Breen was having pain in both of her knees and a visit with the doctor didn’t bring good news. 

“My MPFL ligaments were too long and both of my knee caps were loose,” Breen said. “Towards the end of last year it hurt so much I just wasn’t having any fun.”

In November Breen had surgery on her right knee. Four weeks later it was the left knee and after physical therapy twice a week and a 3-4 month recovery Breen is back and better than ever. 

At last weekend’s high school regional rodeo in Huron Breen participated in barrel racing, team roping, breakaway roping, pole bending and goat tying. 

The junior, who will be back at Wolsey-Wessington high school next fall finished eighth in the barrel racing (5 points, qualified for state), third in the goat tying (15 points, qualified for state), 14th in the pole bending (2 points, needs 1 point to qualify for state) and had a non-catch in the team roping with partner Michaela McCormick of Salem. 

In the breakaway roping competition Breen had runs of 3.290 seconds and 2.940 seconds, tied for first and qualified for state with 16 points. 

“I felt pretty good about the breakaway roping and I am tied with my best friend Josie Mousel of Colman-Egan,” she said. 

Tierney Breen scored 16 points in the breakaway roping competition last weekend in Huron - Photo courtesy of Joel Bergeson

If the name Breen sounds familiar to long-time rodeo fans, Tierny comes from a rodeo background on both sides of the family. 

“My dad, Mica Breen, was a bull rider,” she said. “My mom, Lacey Eaton did every event and was twice a world champion in goat tying.” 

Breen has been riding horses since she could walk and rodeoing from the moment she turned eight years old and was eligible for 4-H rodeo. As you can imagine she doesn’t have to turn very far for some solid rodeo advice. 

“My mom is awesome. We tie together every day and she’s always there for advice and is my biggest source of encouragement,” she said. “My dad is my biggest fan and I have a very strong support system.” 

A support system, rodeo facilities at her home and just down the road, appear to be a perfect recipe for an athlete ready to do well this summer. Breen has an arena at her house and goes over to her godparents, Blaine and Pauline Carey to rope every night. 

“We have goats at my house and every day I ride my horses to keep them in shape and try to be consistent,” she said. 

Breen has three horses she uses at each rodeo. She does barrels and poles on six-year old Brandy, she does breakaway roping and team roping on Koda and rides Marge during her goat tying competitions. 

She fosters those relationships with her horses on a daily basis. 

“It takes doing the work every day and horses obviously need discipline. You have to make sure they know they are loved,” she said. “It is a lot like a relationship with a human, you have to work at it every day. If it’s not going both ways it won’t work.” 

Breen reflected on her first regional rodeo last weekend in Huron. 

“I was pretty happy with a sixth place finish in the barrels last Saturday,” she said. “We haven’t been doing it very long so I was super proud of how she did.” 

Breen was happy with fourth place in the goat tying, mainly because she had two smooth runs and no bobbles. 

“Poles isn’t my favorite event. I don’t have a finished horse so I was happy to score two points in that event,” she said. 

Tierney Breen competing in the pole bending competition in Huron - Photo courtesy of Joel Bergeson

Heading into this weekend’s regional rodeo in Watertown Breen is hoping to rope both her calves in the breakaway roping competition as a mini goal this season was to rope all four calves at the two regional rodeos. 

You get the feeling we might be hearing more from this young lady in the coming years. 

“Rodeo is something I want to do for the rest of my life,” she said. “It is one of those things that sets your soul on fire.”