Ellie Meeks appreciates even the simplest of things that are taken for granted.

Like ice.

When the Geraldine cowgirl is loading ice into her water bottle for another sweltering Montana day, her mind drifts back to November when she was in the African country of Tanzania, helping with health care in the rural villages.

They don’t have ice in Tanzania … they don’t have clean water,” explained Meeks.

The experience left a lasting impact.

“It made me grateful for everything I have,” she continued. “It’s hard to explain. It’s the little day-to-day things. Like Christmas. I was angry for all those gifts.”

The time in Africa was part of her nursing studies through Montana State University. Meeks, 22, also helped on the Native American reservations around the state during her time in Bozeman.

“The end goal is to work in rural emergency health care. Our nearest hospital is 70 miles away,” Meeks said, referring to Great Falls. She graduated from MSU in December and spent the rest of the winter in Texas with friends.

Now she is back in Montana, rope in hand.

Slow to rodeo in high school, “I didn’t like it that much,” said Meeks, she is now firmly in the top five of the Mountain Health Co-op Tour breakaway roping standings.

During the Fourth of July run, Meeks won Choteau and was second at Harlowton. She added a victory at East Helena and pulled checks at Shelby and Three Forks.

“I like how quick it is. The adrenaline rush of it,” said Meeks. “A huge part is the mental game. You have to dial in. You compete for five minutes for two seconds of work. With a bad run, you have to let it go. You can’t take it with you into next week.”

She is roping aboard Ringo, a 13-year-old sorrel.

“He’s my best friend,” Meeks said of her four-legged partner. “All I’ve accomplished is with him. He made me really like rodeo.

“Ringo is just so talented. He stops really hard and really fast. He’s really cool to ride. Ringo knows his job and does it well. He doesn’t want to do anything else.”

Meeks original passion was volleyball. She was a Class C all-state libero for Geraldine and played two seasons for Dawson Community College in Glendive.

Shayla Hance, then the DCC coach, coaxed Meeks into joining the rodeo program.

“It didn’t take much. It paid for the other half of school,” said the roper with a laugh. “Rodeo became like a release. I always loved horses. I needed to be competitive in another way. As I improved, I liked it more.”

Meeks balanced her nursing studies and rodeo at MSU.

“It was a lot,” she acknowledged. “It was a matter of time management. The teachers and coaches really worked with me to make it happen.”

While rodeo was not a priority in high school, rodeo was part of the family. Brother Caleb is a saddle bronc rider and past qualifier for the NRA Finals presented by nuWest Builders.

“Oh, we do,” Meeks said of trash talk between siblings. “Sometimes, we take things too personal (laughs). We talk about a lot of things, like who will do better that weekend.”

As the regular season winds down, she is poised to make a second trip to the Finals. She also qualified in 2023.

“Oh my gosh, it’s helped me a lot,” said Meeks of the Northern Women’s Rodeo Association. “When I was in high school, I did it a little bit. It’s an awesome stepping-stone for so many young girls. It helps your confidence so much. It helps develop your skills.”

Time in the practice pen will be put on the back burner. Meeks started her first full-time nursing job on August 11 at Bozeman Deaconess Hospital.

“I’m going to try,” she said of handling work and roping. “I don’t know how it’s going to work out.

“Just go with the flow.”

Last week

For the fifth time this season, Trevar and Trapper McAllister placed 1-2 in the bareback riding. This time, the brothers from Ronan accomplished the feat at the Madison County Fair and Rodeo in Twin Bridges.

In bull riding at Twin Bridges, Caden Fitzpatrick won for the fourth consecutive time, sharing first place with Libby’s Zack Morrison.

There were photo finishes in barrel racing and breakaway roping the Broadwater Fair and Rodeo in Townsend.

Brooklin Baukol of Clyde Park edged reigning champion Lisa Warfield of Warfield by one-hundredth of a second in barrel racing. Baukol was first in 17.55 while Warfield was 17.56. Only .28 of a second separated the top eight finishers.

In breakaway roping, only six-tenths of a second separated first through eighth place. Payton Levine of Wolf Creek won with a throe of 1.9 seconds, her second sub-2.0 win of the Mountain Health Co-op Tour.

Twin Bridges winners: Trevar McAllister, Ronan, bareback; Cade Costello, Newell, South Dakota, saddle bronc; Caden Fitzpatrick, Polson and Zack Morrison, Libby, bull riding; TJ Sigman, Dillon, steer wrestling; Sherrick, Sanborn, Wilcox, Arizona, tie-down roping; Casey Bird-Jade Schmidt, Cut Bank, team roping; Lauren Keeney, barrel racing; Mandi Holland, Red Lodge, breakaway roping; Chaney Akin, Cody, Wyoming, junior barrel racing; Brooks Bolich, Belgrade, junior breakaway roping.

Townsend winners: Leighton LaFromboise, Helena, bareback; Colton Haase, East Helena, saddle bronc; Zack Morrison, Libby, bull riding; Justus Peterson, Dillon, steer wrestling; Blaise Bolich, Belgrade, tie-down roping; Cory Murray-Bryson Murray, Ramsay; Brooklin Baukol, Clyde Park, barrel racing; Payton Levine, Wolf Creek, breakaway roping; Chaney Akin, Cody, Wyoming, junior barrel racing; Rylee Ogren, Hysham, junior breakaway roping.

Up next

With the remaining regular schedule now in single digits, the Mountain Health Co-op Tour heads to Deer Lodge and Livingston this weekend.

The Tri-County Fair Rodeo in Deer Lodge is August 15-16 with 7 p.m. performances each night.

Livingston’s Calamity’s Classic Rodeo is August 16-17. The August 16 show starts at 7 p.m. while the August 17 performance begins at 5 p.m.