UW Sweeps Team Titles at EWC Rodeo

Both University of Wyoming rodeo teams swept their respective divisions at the Eastern Wyoming College (EWC) rodeo in Torrington last weekend to solidify chances of qualifying full squads to this summer’s College National Finals Rodeo (CNFR) in Casper.

The Cowboys opened up their lead in the Central Rocky Mountain Region (CRMR) overall standings, winning for the second straight weekend to easily outdistance runner-up Laramie County Community College (LCCC) with 690 team points, while the Golden Eagles tallied 460.

The Pokes stretched their CRMR lead with 3,415 points with just three rodeos left in the season. Gillette College hung on to second place but now trails UW by 175 points. Casper College remained third at 2,930 points.

The Cowgirls put together their best performance of the two-semester season, winning for the first time this spring, exploding for 560 points, while LCCC was a distant second with 240 points. More importantly, the UW women solidified their second-place standing in the region with 1,937.5 points to inch closer to season-long leader Gillette College, which sits first with 2,448.33 points. Only the top two teams in the region earn automatic bids to the CNFR.

“I am really proud of our teams -- they have been firing on all cylinders through the first two rodeos of the spring season,” UW head Coach Seth Glause says. “One of our keys for success has been our student-athletes capitalizing on Sundays. It’s important to be able to get average and short go points when we have the opportunities.”

UW’s Rio Nutter, of Rapid City, S.D., was the all-around champion over the weekend for the men’s team, and Kenna McNeill, of Hobbs, N.M., led the Cowgirls with the all-around women’s title.

For the men:

-- Nutter led the way with a pair of second-place finishes in two separate events. He won the tie down roping’s short go to finish as the event’s runner-up and then returned later with partner Reece Wadhams, of LCCC, to place second in the team roping average on the strength of the short go round’s best time.

-- David Gallagher, of Brighton, Colo., strung together two solid runs in steer wrestling, opening with the second-best time, and then he won the short go to give him the win in the average.

-- Saratoga’s Kaden Berger added to the points team’s output with a third-place finish in steer wrestling.

-- Cam Jensen, of Bingham, Neb., placed fourth in the tie down competition with a pair of steady runs.

-- Brice Patterson, of Bozeman, Mont., placed for the second straight weekend on his road to recovery from injury, when he placed fourth in bareback riding.

Other UW Cowboys not on the weekend points team also had a good weekend of competition, with two winning their respective events. Gillette’s Stratton Kohr won the calf roping competition with a pair of solid runs; Weston Mills, also from Gillette, and partner Coy Johnson, from Gillette College, were the top team ropers at EWC; Karson Ewing, of Douglas, placed fifth in steer wrestling; and Colton Farrow, of Greybull, was fifth in bareback riding.

McNeill paced the Cowgirls, winning one individual event and placing third in another. The senior placed in two rounds of barrel racing to win her specialty event, and then she used a strong short go round to place third in goat tying.

A pair of UW teammates also helped in the team’s overall win:

-- Josie Mousel, from Egan, S.D., placed in a pair of events. She had two sharp goat tying runs to finish as the runner-up, and she added sixth-place points in the breakaway roping average.

-- Landry Haugen, of Sturgis, S.D., had the third-best breakaway roping times in the opening and short go rounds, but they were good enough to propel her to second in the average.

Other UW Cowgirls not on the points team also placed during the weekend rodeo. Thermopolis’ Emme Norsworthy placed for the first time this spring, finishing as the barrel racing runner-up to McNeill, and Sage Kohr, of Gillette, gave the Cowgirls the top three in the event when she placed third. Hailey Hardeman, of Jackson, was fifth in the breakaway roping competition.

Action in the CRMR will pause this weekend for the Easter break but will resume April 5-7 for the Colorado State University rodeo.

“I am excited for a week off for our athletes to recuperate, then we are back at it in two weeks with three weeks of rodeo to finish the season,” Glause says. “I look forward to a strong finish by both of our teams.”