Hollister
– Amanda Jacobsen was 6 when her sister, Margie, won the 1995
Miss San Benito Rodeo competition.
Hollister – Amanda Jacobsen was 6 when her sister, Margie, won the 1995 Miss San Benito Rodeo competition.
“We have pictures of me with the sash on and it went down to my knees,” Amanda said.
And when Amanda, now 19, put the sash on after winning this year’s Miss San Benito Rodeo competition Saturday, it fit a little better.
Amanda gave credit to the three other girls she edged out for the title and a chance to compete at other rodeos.
“Any of us would have been a great representative for the association,” Amanda said.
With Margie and the rest of her family cheering Amanda on from the stands, the Jacobsens became the third pair of sisters in 18 years to win the Miss San Benito Rodeo title.
For the Jacobsens, it runs in the family.
“I just have committed girls,” said Linda Jacobsen, the girls’ mother.
Linda’s father bred horses in Washington, and she and her husband, Jeffrey Jacobsen, bought a five-acre ranch in San Benito to raise their own in 1989.
All of the Jacobsen girls have competed in queen competitions or pageants.
Margie Jacobsen eventually went on to become the Miss Grand National Rodeo queen in 1997.
If Vanessa Jacobsen, 23, had vied for the rodeo title instead of competing in beauty pageants, the family could be the county’s first true Miss San Benito Rodeo dynasty.
Both Margie and Amanda competed in the rodeo from an early age, Linda said. Amanda said she began competing in the county’s rodeo when she was 9.
Lisa Tobias, who sits on the committee for Miss San Benito Rodeo, said Amanda scored the highest on the horsemanship section of the competition, which accounts for 40 percent of overall points.
“The horsemanship is a crucial factor in selecting a queen,” Tobias said.
Tobias added that Amanda scored well on the poise and presentation sections of the competition.
In July, Amanda will represent the county at the Salinas Rodeo.
“Salinas will probably be my biggest competition to date,” Amanda said.
Winning the Miss California State Horsemanship title at the age of 14 has prepared Amanda for speaking in front of large crowds, she said.
Aside from rodeo and queen competitions, Amanda, a junior at California State University, San Jose, wants to use her degree in child development to become an elementary school teacher.
“It’s the cliche, ‘children are our future,'” Amanda said.
