The San Diego Rodeo is returning to Petco Park, the baseball stadium that’s home to the San Diego Padres, Jan. 10-12, 2025.

Some of the best team ropers in the world are headed to the West Coast for warmer weather and big payouts in San Diego.

San Diego Rodeo 2025 team roping results

Round 1

Round 2

What team ropers are advancing to the Finals?

When and where is the 2025 San Diego Rodeo?

Petco Park in downtown San Diego is home to the San Diego Rodeo Jan. 10-12,

• Friday, Jan. 10: 6 p.m. PST
• Saturday, Jan 11: 6 p.m. PST
• Sunday, Jan. 12: 2 p.m. PST

What is the format for the San Diego Rodeo?

There will be three performances at the San Diego Rodeo. Rounds 1 and 2 will take place the first two performances (Jan. 10-11) with 12 teams competing. The final performance, Jan. 12, will be the Finals, comprised of eight of the highest money earners from the first two rounds, followed by the clean-slate Shoot Out round of four.

Who is entered in the team roping at the 2025 San Diego Rodeo?

Where to watch the San Diego Rodeo?

The rodeo is set to air on the Cowboy Channel Plus starting Jan. 10, at 9 p.m. ET. 

Who won the team roping at the 2024 San Diego Rodeo?

Marcus Theriot and Logan Medlin teamed up in sunny California to win the inaugural San Diego Rodeo. While they aren’t ProRodeo partners, the Mississippi and New Mexico natives had no trouble kicking off their weekend in Petco Park on the right foot. They won the first round with a 4.4, and their $3,500 win secured them a spot in Sunday’s eight-man round.

They picked up a leg in the eight-man but won enough just off the first round to advance to the sudden-death round of four. They started the round off as the first team out, and their 3.9-second run held strong, clinching the win. As one of only two teams to catch, they picked up some extra money for the win, pocketing $30,000 just for the four-man round. All in all, Theriot and Medlin left the West Coast with $33,500.00 each.

The Padres are again bringing another former manager into the organization.

This time, it’s Scott Servais coming aboard as a special assistant in player development, the Union-Tribune confirmed.

The Athletic first reported the addition of Servais, who was fired by the Seattle Mariners in August amid a disappointing 64-64 start to the season.

Servais was 680-642 over nine seasons in Seattle, winning as many as 90 games twice. But the 57-year-old Servais had just one postseason appearance in Seattle and was let go after the Mariners lost the AL West lead while falling from as high as 13 games over .500.

Mike Shildt was coming off quite a bit more success in St. Louis, but he too landed in San Diego after his surprising firing, initially as a consultant before the 2022 season.

Shildt, who ultimately replaced manager Bob Melvin after the 2023 season and has been extended through 2027, had no prior experience in San Diego or with President of Baseball Operations A.J. Preller.

That’s not the case with Servais, who was part of the managerial candidate pool before Andy Green was hired ahead of the 2016 season and was the Texas Rangers’ senior director of player personnel while Preller was in that front office.

A former major league catcher of 11 seasons, Servais also worked with Ryley Westman and Mike Daly, the Padres’ farm director and assistant farm director, respectively, while in Texas.

Originally Published: January 11, 2025 at 4:41 PM PST

Since he was 4 years old, La Jolla Country Day School seventh-grader Oliver Cottrell loved practicing hockey and watching Pittsburgh Penguins games with his father in his free time. The only problem? His practices didn’t always align with his friends’ schedules.

Oliver developed a solution in the form of an automated hockey puck passer as part of Country Day’s after-school program and competed in the Greater San Diego Science & Engineering Fair. In the past year, his creation garnered him local recognition and a spot in a national competition.

The machine, fueled by Python programming and Raspberry Pi, a single-board computer, captures several photos of the player and recognizes a ball sensor on the player’s helmet. Once the target is identified, the wheels start spinning, shooting pucks toward the player.

Oliver settled on his idea in September 2023, ahead of the January deadline for the 2024 San Diego science fair.

At that event last March, Oliver, a sixth-grader at the time, won the Grand Award in physical sciences. Not long after, he finished second in the California Science and Engineering Fair.

From there, he got national recognition as one of 30 finalists invited to the Thermo Fisher Scientific Junior Innovators Challenge in October in Washington, D.C. The finalists were selected from among nearly 2,000 applicants, with award winners chosen by a panel of scientists, engineers and educators.

Oliver said he loved his experience in the nation’s capital, where his invention won first place and $3,500 in the engineering category.

Over the week-long competition, Oliver met students from across the nation who shared his love for science and engineering and participated in group activities.

His busy schedule required a strong school/life balance. While that presented a challenge at first, Oliver eventually found a groove.

“After I got the hang of it, it sort of became easy to do,” he said. “So I could find different timeframes on when I can work on the science fair and when I could work on schoolwork.”

Oliver’s father, David, saw his son’s project grow as he spent nights and weekends working out the details.

“I was really proud of the amount of work he put in, because it was pretty much every day,” David Cottrell said. “[Oliver] said along the way something like ‘I feel like I have a job.’ Because it was something you have to do over time.”

Oliver’s base for his work was La Jolla Country Day, and the after-school program he attended was launched two years ago by Matt Bessler, who teaches sixth-grade physics.

With support from faculty adviser Noa Parker, Oliver went through the process of developing his invention.

Parker, who teaches seventh-grade life science and eighth-grade chemistry, said entering a competition goes far beyond simply generating an idea.

“There’s prep work … and if you’re doing an engineering project, there’s actually creating the device,” Parker said. “But after that you have to be able to express and explain the entire process and the outcomes, results and what you would have done differently multiple times during the competition.

“It’s really cool to see, especially Oliver — who was just a sixth-grader last year — now really be able to express what he did, and his networking and conversation skills have enhanced so much.”

Last year, 10 students enrolled in the after-school program were recognized in the greater San Diego competition. Their projects included testing electrolytes in different drinks, identifying ingredients in sunscreen and designing solar panels that rotate to capture the most energy.

Bessler said the faculty’s role in the program is to guide students in the right direction but leave room for their creativity to take over. After all, he added, every branch of science was on the table.

“It’s a lot of molding and helping,” Bessler said. “We won’t come up with ideas for them, so they have to bring something to us, and from that, we’ll help them brainstorm and … mold it into an actual project that will work. But it’s up to them to come with something we can work with.”

Oliver said the help with time management and organization paid off as the project pushed into its final stages.

His puck passer underwent several changes along the way. He scrapped an idea to give it an arm, and in the interest of time, he decided to keep it stationary.

Jeff Terwin, Country Day’s head of school, praised Oliver’s invention and how he represented the school in the competitions.

“Oliver truly represents what makes La Jolla Country Day School a special place,” Terwin said. “His curiosity, hard work and connections with his teachers are amazing. We couldn’t be prouder of his accomplishments — and even more of the great person he is and all he brings to our community.”

While Oliver celebrates the success of his hockey puck passer, his attention now is directed toward the next Greater San Diego Science & Engineering Fair. With the Jan. 20 deadline quickly approaching, he said he’s “close to the finish line” on a new project — a robot tutor.

The robot tutor uses a newer version of the Raspberry Pi computer, as well as speakers and cameras. The robot takes a picture of homework but doesn’t just dish out answers. Instead, it offers tips and tricks to enhance the learning experience.

To learn more about this year’s San Diego science fair and last year’s winners, visit gsdsef.org. ♦