Nikki Steffes Carries UW Women to Regional Rodeo Lead |  
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April 16, 2007 -- Nikki Steffes is carrying the University of Wyoming women's rodeo team on her slender shoulders.
The second-year Cowgirl scored all her team's points last weekend at the Dale Stiles Memorial Ropin' and Riggin' Days Rodeo hosted by Casper College to lead UW to a second place finish. More important, the Cowgirls maintained their overall Central Rocky Mountain Region (CRMR) lead with four rodeos remaining on the schedule.
Steffes, the defending all-around CRMR performer, solidified the lead when she won the barrel racing competition at Casper and also added second place points in the goat tying average. She leads both events in the overall region standings.
The Vale, S.D., sophomore has a 55 point lead over TaNaye Carroll of Northeastern Junior College (NJC) in the goat tying standings, and opened up a 190 point lead against teammate Jordan Hodge, a pre-medical freshman from Omaha, Neb., in the barrel racing event. Steffes also has a 365 point advantage over Carroll in the all-around competition.
Steffes won the opening barrel racing round and added fourth place short go points to win the average. She also won the goat tying long go and had the second best time in the short go to finish second overall.
Her 310 total points were enough to give the Cowgirls second place overall, just 55 points behind the winning Central Wyoming College (CWC) women. For the season the Cowgirls have won three rodeos outright, tied for first in another and finished second once. The UW women still have a comfortable lead in the overall team standings with 2,200 points, while the second place Lady Rustlers have 1,296.
Other team scores from the CC rodeo were NJC 280 points followed by Sheridan College (SC) 215; the host T-Birds scored 80; Lamar Community College (LCC) 55; and Colorado State University (CSU) 30.
UW's Kacy Hatten, an agricultural communications freshman from Wheatland, won the breakaway roping competition with the two best efforts, winning both the long and short go rounds. However, her points didn't count toward the four-member UW team's total points.
The UW Cowboys continued to struggle during the spring portion of the rodeo schedule after placing ninth in Casper.
After leading in the overall standings after three fall rodeos, the Cowboys slipped to third place and are in danger of not qualifying for the College National Finals Rodeo this June. CWC leads the overall race with 3,490 points, while Eastern Wyoming College (EWC) is a solid second with 2,925 points. Only the top two teams advance to the finals and the Cowboys are 730 points out of the coveted second place position.
EWC netted 600 points to win the CC rodeo, while CWC and LCC scored 400 and 300, respectively. CSU had 270; Chadron State College (CSC) 265; SC 170; NJC 130; Laramie County Community College (LCCC) 80; UW 60; and both Mesa State College and CC had 40 each.
Senior Tony Larsen scored UW's 60 points by placing sixth in the steer wrestling average in what proved to be a tough weekend for the six-member Cowboy team.
UW will be in Sterling, Colo., this weekend for the NJC rodeo and the Cowboys and Cowgirls host the annual Laramie River Rendezvous Rodeo April 27-29, at the indoor Hansen Livestock Teaching Arena.
Listed are the top six in the average from the Casper College rodeo:
Goat tying -- TaNaye Carroll, NJC, 15.9; Nikki Steffes, UW, 16.3; Lacey Schuelke, SC, 17.4; Kori Jorgensen, 17.6; Annie Joanette, 17.9; Lorisa Lide, LCC, 18.1.
Breakaway roping -- Kacy Hatten, UW, 4.7; Sarah Mulholland, CWC, 5.6; Lacey Schuelke, SC, 6.3; Brooke Barker, UW, 8.3; Spring Moore, EWC, 8.5; Lorisa Lide, LCC, 15.6
Barrel racing -- Nikki Steffes, UW, 31.78; Spring Moore, EWC, 31.80; TaNaye Carroll, NJC, 31.83; Sarah Mulholland, CWC, 31.87; Crystal Rice, CC, 32.24; Ryan Pettis, Adams State College, 32.36.
Bareback riding -- Joe Mundorf, CWC, 150; Ty Kenner, EWC, 149; Andy Hollibaugh, CSC, and James Baldwin, UW, 142; Thomas Baker, SC, 140; Jake Voigt, SC, 139.
Saddle bronc riding -- Blaze Hamaker, CWC, 142; J.W. Moore, CWC, 126.
Bull riding -- Jake Leiseth, EWC, 146.
Steer wrestling -- Brad Johnson, EWC, 8.3; Gary Gilbert, EWC, 9.2; Garrett Henry, UW, 9.9; Clint Dexter, CSC, 10.1; Thomas Baker, SC, 10.4; Tony Larsen, UW, 10.8.
Tie down roping -- Jayce Johnson, EWC, 21.4; Shawn White, EWC, 23; Alex Schuman, CSU, 24.1; Chad Nelson, UW, 25.8; Jarrod Soude, Mesa State College, 28.4; Kyle McLean, EWC, 35.2.
Team roping -- Brad Johnson/Jared Bilby, EWC, 18.5; Jordan Steele/Garrett Henry, UW, 19.1; Chase Francis, CSC/T.J. Watts, NJC, 19.8; Heath Reinert/Lee Ford, LCC, 20.6; Tyler Lauridsen/Josh Fillmore, LCC, 22.6; Robin Neubauer/Chris Robinett, CC, 28.2. Posted on Tuesday, April 17, 2007
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