UW Men Take Opening Rodeo of Spring Season

If the University of Wyoming men’s rodeo team is going to win its first Central Rocky Mountain Region (CRMR) team title since the 2006 season, the Cowboys will need more strong results such as last weekend’s spring opener.

The Cowboys took the opening Gillette College rodeo with an impressive 510 points to open a nearly 1,000-point lead over two-time defending CRMR champion Sheridan College.

The Pokes got scoring from just half of their six-man points team members, but Seth Peterson’s outstanding individual performance accounted for 260 points for the UW men’s total production

After Sunday’s Gillette College short go, Coach Beau Clark’s Cowboys have now scored 3,210 points through six rodeos, while the Generals have 2,315. Gillette College remained in third place with 2,165 points.

The UW men were able to open up leads against both the Generals and Pronghorns over the weekend when both those clubs struggled coming out of the spring season gate. Casper College placed second in the latest regional rodeo with 460 points and Laramie County Community College notched 445. The two clubs are fifth and seventh, respectively, in the region.

Peterson, a junior from Minot, N.D., was equally strong in three separate events at Gillette.

He and UW partner Ty Everson, a Helena, Mont., junior, placed third in the team roping average, placing third in both rounds of competition. Peterson used a strong second-place finish in the short go of tie down roping to place third in the event’s average. He scored a trifecta by also placing third in steer wrestling by taking third in both rounds of bulldogging.

Everson accounted for an additional 150 team points with his team roping showing with Peterson, and added an additional 60 points by placing fourth in two rounds of steer wrestling to take fourth in the average.

The final 50 points came from Mesa, Ariz., senior JC Flake, who combined with teammate Caden Camp, a Belgrade, Mont., freshman, in team roping. The duo placed second in the opening round, but couldn’t maintain the momentum in the short go and finished out of the average.

A late fall season mini-slump continued for the UW women when they placed third at the Gillette College rodeo with just 135 team points, leaving the Cowgirls in sixth place in the spring opener. The host Pronghorns took the opening rodeo with 255 points, while Chadron State College scored 230 and regional leader Eastern Wyoming College (EWC) scored 220.

The opening performance dropped the UW women one notch in the overall regional standings to third place with 1,420 points. Perennial regional leader Gillette College overtook the Cowgirls in the standings and now has a 35-point lead on the UW women. EWC maintained its overall lead with 1,568.33 points.

The UW women were led by reigning CRMR breakaway roping champion Teisha Coffield, a Yuma, Colo., junior, who was fourth in the goat tying average. She accounted for 110 team points. The final 25 came from Cheyenne junior Justene Hirsig, who was fifth in the breakaway roping average.

Action in the CRMR picks up again March 29-31 for the EWC rodeo in Torrington.