UW Mens Team Wins Fourth Straight Regional Rodeo Title

It is only fitting that the University of Wyoming men’s team returns to host its home rodeo next weekend as the four-time defending Central Rocky Mountain Region (CRMR) champion.

Even though the Cowboys have had an insurmountable regional lead the past month, it is now safe to say that the UW men have added a fourth straight CRMR title -- in dominating fashion -- more so than the three previous title runs.

Leading from the start last September to the present, the Cowboys have won eight of nine competitions during the combined fall and spring seasons. This year’s title run has been the most successful one yet, with Coach Beau Clark’s club amassing 7,545 points, which very well could be a school record. More than 2,400 points in a distant second is Casper College. And there is still one rodeo left in the regular season: the Laramie River Rendezvous Rodeo scheduled Friday through Sunday, April 22-24.

The Cowboys are the only team that has eclipsed the 900-point barrier this season at a single rodeo, and the team has done it three times, including at the Ropin’ and Riggin’ Days rodeo hosted by Casper College Sunday.

UW won, going away again with 910 total team points, while the host T-Birds scored 485. Gillette College was third with 270 points.

All six members of the UW men’s points team contributed to the weekend win, including a pair of event winners. All six points team members scored in triple digits:

-- All-around runner-up Cameron Jensen, from Hyannis, Neb., racked up 240 points for the team by securing the top short go time for the overall tie down roping average. He also scored fifth-place points in steer wrestling.

-- Steady Donny Proffit, of Kemmerer, returned to his winning bareback riding ways by marking an 80 in his short go re-ride to win the average.

-- Brice Patterson, from Bozeman, Mont., took the opening round of bareback riding, had the second-best mark in the short go, and wound up second in the average to Proffit. The two roommates are staging a battle for the regional bareback riding title, with Patterson holding a slim 35-point lead over Proffit, the defending event champion.

-- Regional all-around leader Garrett Uptain, from Craig, Colo., scored points in two events for the Cowboys. He was fourth in the saddle bronc average and had the third-best mark in the opening round of bull riding, but he did not place in the overall average.

-- Chadron Coffield, from Yuma, Colo., topped the tie down field in the opening round and settled for fourth in the average.

-- Austin Hurlburt, of Norfolk, Neb., had back-to-back fourth-place times in steer wrestling, which was good enough to give him third in the overall bulldogging average.

UW non-points team members also placed in Casper. Wheatland’s Drake Amundson was third in bareback riding, and Greybull’s Colton Farrow was sixth in the same event; David Gallagher, from Brighton, Colo., won the steer wrestling competition and placed third in tie down roping; and Jaxson Mirabal, from Magdalena, N.M., placed fourth in saddle broncs.

The UW Cowgirls also can win their fourth straight CRMR team title like their Cowboys counterparts, but it will come down to the final home rodeo.

Despite finishing fifth at Casper College last weekend, the Cowgirls maintained their slim regional team lead over second-place Gillette College. Through nine rodeos, the Cowgirls have a team-leading 2,385 points in the regional standings, while the Pronghorns are just 190 points back. Sitting in third is Casper College with 1,845 points.

Just the top two teams in the region in both the men’s and women’s divisions advance to June’s College National Finals Rodeo in Casper.

Laramie County Community College’s women’s team won for the second time this season in taking the weekend Casper College rodeo with 420 points. Sheridan College was second with 245 points; Gillette College and Northeastern Junior College split third place with 200 points; and the Cowgirls were fifth with 140 points.

Senior Kelsey Lensegrav, of Interior, S.D., accumulated 120 individual points for the UW women, steadily placing fourth in both goat tying rounds to wind up fourth in the overall average. The only other team member to score points was Taylour Latham, of Roosevelt, Utah, who recorded the fifth-best time in the goat tying’s short go.

Non-points team members Sydney Adamson, of Valentine, Neb., was the breakaway roping runner-up; Reata Beck, from Albin, was fourth in goat tying; and Gillette’s Halle Hladky split sixth in breakaway roping.