Big Weekend Boosts UW Men at EWC Rodeo

With five points team members securing points, the University of Wyoming Cowboys jumped back to their winning ways by taking the weekend Eastern Wyoming College (EWC) rodeo to help widen their overall regional lead.

Paced by the all-around performance from Rio Nutter, from Rapid City, S.D., the Cowboys compiled 756.66 points to easily outdistance Casper College’s 505 points. Chadron State College was third with 383.3.

Nutter put together two solid team roping rounds with partner Reece Wadhams, from Laramie County Community College, to split the overall average. The duo had the second-best time in the opening round and then split first place in the short go. Nutter also won the opening tie down roping round, but he did not place in the average. He totaled 225 points for the weekend.

Brice Patterson, from Bozeman, Mont., also had a strong weekend in bareback riding when he won the opening round, securing the second-best mark in the short go to give him the average. The defending Central Rocky Mountain Region (CRMR) bareback riding champion is sitting second in the region.

“Overall, our men’s team had a great weekend, and I was really excited for Rio Nutter to win the all-around,” UW Coach Beau Clark says.

Other scoring for the Cowboys came from:

-- Kemmerer’s Donny Proffit was third in bareback riding to remain among the region’s top riders.

-- Bodie Mattson, from Sturgis, S.D., came through with a strong short go round in tie down roping to place third in the average.

-- In the same event, Cameron Jensen, from Hyannis, Neb., placed one position behind Mattson in calf roping. He also partnered with Chadron State’s Tanner Whetham to place fifth in team roping.

Other UW Cowboys who placed during the weekend rodeo but were not on the points team were Wheatland’s Drake Amundson, who took sixth in bareback riding; Kagan Gilbert, from Encampment, and Tatum Runner, of Wellington, Colo., were fourth in team roping; Stratton Kohr and Quincy Reynolds, both from Gillette, combined to place second in team roping; and Jacob Wang, from Baker, Mont., placed second in steer wrestling. Runner is a member of the UW Cowgirls team; however, women team members also can compete in the team roping event.

The Cowgirls also put together a good weekend to remain the runner-up team in the overall CRMR with second place at the EWC rodeo.

Gillette won for the seventh time in eight competitions spanning the fall and spring seasons with 370 points, while the UW women were second at 275.

Faith Hoffman, from Kiowa, Colo., continued her strong push in goat tying by splitting first place in the average, which was boosted by her opening round’s best time.

In the same event, teammate Kelsey Lensegrav, from Interior, S.D., split fourth place in the average. Gillette’s Sage Kohr split third place in barrel racing in the opening round, and Kenna McNeill, from Hobbs, N.M., scored sixth-place points in the opening round of goat tying, but neither placed in the average.

Two UW women also placed in the weekend rodeo, but neither were on the four-woman points team. Riata Day, of Fleming, Colo., split fourth place in goat tying, and Gillette’s Emme Norsworthy scored sixth-place average points in breakaway roping.

Colorado State University hosts this weekend’s CRMR rodeo.