McNeese volleyball senior Macee Krpec “A Real Cowgirl”

LAKE CHARLES — McNeese senior Macee Krpec was a Cowgirl long before she became a member of the school’s volleyball team.

The native of Nada, Texas, a rural community in South Texas with a population of roughly 100 surrounded by corn and rice fields, Krpec had no other choice but to fall in love with the Cowgirl life.

“I grew up with horses and cattle my entire childhood,” Krpec said. “I’ve been working with and riding horses since I was tiny. I got my first “big horse” when I was seven years old and now, I have five personal horses (Pepper, Lu, Beatrice, Annie Marie, Blanche).

Summers jobs for Krpec have been working with and training horses for the past few summers, getting the horses when they are young and breaking them and selling them from time to time.

“I have my own registered cattle/horse brand in the state of Texas, it’s a letter ‘M” with a hanging “K”. All my horses are personally trained and wear my brand on their shoulder.”

When Krpec came to Lake Charles in the spring of 2019 as a member of the volleyball team, the hardest thing for her was not the workouts or practices, it was being away from her horses. Krpec quickly found a solution.

That same summer she brought one horse to Lake Charles and put it in a local boarding facility. That solution worked so well that one horse quickly turned into two horses and this past summer she brought her entire herd to Lake Charles, working all day with 5-6 horses, taking care of, and training them every day.

“It’s has been a blessing to be able to bring my horses to Lake Charles and have them here with me. Since move here, I’ve gotten the opportunity to not only train them all day but to also compete and use their skills. I’ve competed in several local barrel and pole jackpots, worked cows from time to time, was able to catch a few rouge steers, and a ranch/western pleasure show just to name a few.”

While her teammates spent their summers in the gym or weight room preparing for the season, Krpec’s workouts were unconventional but effective. Instead of lifting iron weights, Krpec’s weights consisted of 50-pound bags of feed, 70-pound square bales of hay or working with 1200-pound animals.

“Getting to have a piece of my life back home here with me has always been a blessing. During the off season and in the summer months while most college kids were on vacation or doing other typical college kid things, I spent my days in the barn or out in the pasture working with young horses living that lifestyle the best I could.”

Krpec is pursuing a sports medicine degree and plans to use her athletic training experience on equine athletes.

“After college I plan to relocate back to Texas for a little while in hopes of finding a cutting/reining performance horse ranch to work on to gain experience riding and training that style of horse. She would like to eventually move to Oklahoma or even Montana and Wyoming- the heart of horse country.”

Being the “Real Cowgirl” of the team has brought several memorable moments for Krpec the past four years.

“The most memorable part of being the “Real Cowgirl” of the team was showing up to practice after work in my boots and jeans with my spurs on and the team commenting on how they could hear my spurs all the way down the hallway.”

Krpec has also been the official hat supplier for the teams yearly marketing pictures, furnishing her personal cowboy hats for the team to use the past four years.

Krpec is scheduled to graduate in December, and she plans on bringing “Lu” back to Lake Charles for her senior pictures before riding off into the sunset for the phase in her life but before that happens, she plans on leading the Cowgirl Volleyball team to another successful season.