Hays, Kan. -- Advance tickets for the 49th annual Fort Hays State University rodeo will go on sale April 1 and can be purchased at three locations in Hays -- the service center in FHSU's Memorial Union; Orscheln Farm & Home, 2900 Broadway Ave.; and Vanderbilt's, 2704 Vine.

Ticket prices are $8 for adults in advance or $12 at the gate. Children are $5 in advance and $8 at the gate. FHSU students are admitted free with the Tiger ID card.

Nearly 500 student athletes from 27 different colleges from across Kansas and Oklahoma will converge on the Doug Philip Arena the weekend of April 17-19 in an effort to qualify for this summer's College National Finals Rodeo in Casper, Wyo. The Doug Philip Arena is located on Golf Course Road, a half mile west of U.S. Highway 183 Alternate.

Times for each day are 7:30 p.m. for the Friday event, 1 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday.

Competitors accumulate points throughout the college season en route to advancing to the CNFR, the "Rose Bowl" of college rodeo. Fort Hays State is a member of the Central Plains region, whose season is made up of 10 different rodeos. There are 11 regions nationwide, and the top three competitors in each region in each individual event, as well as the top two teams from each region, qualify for nationals.

As of March 9, Windom sophomore Jacob Willems was ranked 12th in bareback riding for Fort Hays State, and Onaga sophomore Matthew Rezach was the 15th-ranked competitor in team roping header. As a team, FHSU's men were ranked 14th and the women, 13th.

The Fort Hays State rodeo is sandwiched between the other two remaining circuit events for the 2014-15 season, both in Oklahoma -- April 9-11 at Southwestern Oklahoma State University in Weatherford and April 23-25 at Panhandle State University in Guymon.