By: Kendra Santos
Lynnette Krantz spent the early days of her cowgirl career roping at $10 jackpots in California. To be here at the $750,000 Women’s Rodeo World Championship at Will Rogers Memorial Center in Fort Worth, Texas, roping alongside her daughters, Taryn Krantz Castodio and Erica Krantz Lozares—where the winning header and heeler will both walk away at week’s end $60,000 richer—is beyond this rodeo mom’s wildest dreams.
“From where I came from, getting to experience roping for $60 grand with my girls makes me speechless and proud,” said Mom Lynnette, who back-burnered her own ropes for a few years to haul her daughters around when they were growing up. “Not many mothers get to do this with their daughters. This is the richest women’s rodeo ever, and I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for my girls.”
All three are recent-year Texas transplants from Lodi, California. Lynnette and Taryn live on the same place in Whitesboro, and Erica now lives in Perrin. Lynnette is heading for Taryn and Rylie Smith here. Taryn’s heading for little sister Erica, heeling for mom Lynnette and breakaway roping, which makes her a strong contender for the $20,000 all-around bonus here at the WRWC. Erica is heading for Aspen Miller, Michelle Wilson and Martha Angelone, and heeling for Taryn. This is a clan of all-around cowgirls.
“We grew up in the arena together, and we’ve been practicing for an event like this all our lives,” said big sister Taryn, who’s a first-grade teacher at Edison Elementary in Gainesville, and is the Gainesville School District’s 2019-2020 Teacher of the Year. “Now that we have this platform, it’s pretty special to be here as a family.
“We’ve never really gotten to compete together. Mom stepped back with her roping to haul us around, and with Erica and I being four years apart, she was in junior high when I was in high school. As I was leaving high school, she was coming in. The money and prestige up for grabs here doesn’t come along every day. What’s so great about this for me is I can compete at these big events and still have my career.”
“This past year has been the year of breakaway,” added Erica, who’s working on getting her real estate license. “This event having equal money in the team roping gives the women team ropers a chance to be professionals, too. They’re going to crown world champion team ropers this week at AT&T Stadium (the top six from Will Rogers advance to the Professional Bull Riders World Finals performances in one final showdown at week’s end). That’s pretty neat.”
