The Vest sisters, Katie, left, and Jessica, are both heading to nationals. Katie will compete in pole bending at the National High School Rodeo Association Finals in New Mexico, while Jessica will be in Kentucky with her softball team at the ASA Girls 16-and-under Fastpitch National Championships.
The Vest sisters, Katie (left) and Jessica, are both heading to nationals in their respective sports. Katie will compete in pole bending in New Mexico and Jessica will play softball in Kentucky.
At one point in their lives, sisters Katie and Jessica Vest followed the same path, competed in the same sports.
Volleyball. Softball. Basketball. Rodeo. A sport for every season, more or less.
But somewhere along the line, the two sisters branched away competitively. Although they may lead one to believe that their relationship took a turn for the worst as a result - "I always win the fist fights, if you want to put that in," Katie said tongue-in-cheek - the two sisters are simply excelling at what interests them.
Nothing more.
"She's kind of the jock. She was always pretty much better than me in sports," Katie said. "But we always pretty much did everything together. She was always on my team.
"In some ways it was good and in some ways it was, ya know, a bitter rivalry thing."
Competing in just about everything growing up, the Vest sisters eventually came to an athletic fork in the road. Although their opposite routes pushed them to support one another - instead of sisterly gloating - the two chose their paths wisely.
Katie will be off to New Mexico for the National High School Rodeo Association Finals next week, where she'll be competing in pole bending, and Jessica will be traveling to Kentucky for the ASA Girls 16-and-under Fastpitch National Championships the week after with her team, the 16U California Grapettes.
Although the offseasons weren't necessarily as cut-and-dry as rodeo and softball early on in the Vest household, Katie, 18, a recent graduate of San Benito High, and Jessica, 15, an incoming sophomore, did an unusual flip-flop when it came to sports growing up.
"We were actually the exact opposite," Katie said. "We both did rodeo, and then basketball, volleyball and softball. And then Jessie chose the three sports and I chose rodeo because that was my thing.
"I played high school basketball my freshman year and made [junior varsity], but it was just too much to do everything. I had to choose."
Jessica took the alternate route, at first competing in a foursome of rodeo, volleyball, basketball and softball with her sister, but eventually dropping the former due to time constraints.
"I did [rodeo] when I was little, but I decided to do (other) sports instead," Jessica said. "I'm too busy with softball and basketball and volleyball ... I like team sports, where you don't have to be on every day, but you still have your teammates to pick you up."
Noted for her clutch performances as catcher for the San Benito Lady 'Balers this past season, Jessica, listed as a shortstop and outfielder for the Grapettes, will attend nationals for the fifth time. Competing on the national stage every year since she was 10-years-old, the younger Vest is practically immune to the nerves and anxiety that usually come with the spotlight.
At the 16U Junior Olympic Championship in Stockton last month, the Grapettes ran the table and defeated their 16U counterparts - also the Grapettes - 3-0 in the championship to solidify their berth to nationals.
Jessica played for the 16U Strikers out of San Jose last year, so she's unaware of how well the Grapettes did last season at nationals, although she noted that some 190 teams were in attendance vying for the title.
Just last week, Vest's Grapettes took seventh at the Sparkler Tournament in Colorado.
"I'll go to her games and stuff and wish I was still playing," Katie said. "But I've always loved horses. It's my life."
Katie, who'll attend West Hills College in Coalinga in the fall, took 15th last year in pole bending at nationals in Illinois. This year she qualified for poles again after earning second place (she missed first place by four points) at the State Finals in Bishop, where she also competed in barrel racing (39th place) and goat tying (14th place).
"When I had to choose what I had to do and what I wanted to put my time into, it was easy," Katie said.
Prior to state, the eldest Vest also took first place in poles for District 4, which includes Alameda, Contra Costa, Monterey, San Benito, Santa Clara, San Mateo, Santa Cruz and San Francisco counties.
Like her little sister, though, the national spotlight is reduced with a shrug of the shoulder.
"I'm not as nervous. Last year I didn't know what to expect," Katie said. "I want to do better than I did last year.
"But we're both pretty good under pressure."
Called the world's largest rodeo, the NHSRA brings some 1,500 cowboys and cowgirls to Farmington, N.M. Katie will join approximately 175 other pole-benders, all of whom will be gunning for the fastest time.
Katie's 15th-place finish last year positioned her a mere 2.517 seconds out of first place, so competitive spirit will certainly not be in short order.
Sisters Vest said they owed plenty to their devoted parents, which help the duo succeed, providing "huge amounts of time and money traveling and getting us everything we need to be competitive."
Despite their different athletic routes, the sisters don't seem to have lost their edge, though it was in perhaps their best interest for them not to follow in each other's footsteps.
"We're really competitive in everything," Katie said. "I think it's almost a good thing we don't do the same thing because we're so competitive ..."
Added Jessica, "We'd probably fight over it."
National High School Rodeo Association Finals
Katie Vest, 18, will be attending the National High School Rodeo Association Finals in Farmington, N.M., next week where she'll compete in pole bending. The following are her sponsors that helped to send her south.
n Grandparents Jack and Emily Winchester; McKinnon Lumber; Dassels; HalfTime Energy Drinks; Winn Insurance Co.; John Ceglia Focus Sports; Larry and Karen Smith; Ed LeTourneau, DVM; and Eagle Recycling.
Both Katie and Jessica thanked their parents as well.
Andrew Matheson Andrew Matheson is a sports writer for South Valley Newspapers. He can be reached at 831-637-5566 ext. 334 or at amatheson@svnewspapers.com.
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