Josie Davison, a secondary education junior from Miles City, Mont., finished third
in the barrel racing average at the Laramie County Community College rodeo last weekend.
Both the University of Wyoming rodeo teams had solid performances in the final fall competition last weekend, with the Cowgirls making a significant bid to qualify for next summer's College National Finals Rodeo.
The Cowgirls finished the first half of the season in a flurry, placing second at the Shawn Dubie Memorial Rodeo at Laramie County Community College in Cheyenne.
UW scored 175 points behind Gillette College's winning 240. The Cowgirls' late season run pushed UW closer to second-place Central Wyoming College (CWC) going into the Central Rocky Mountain Region (CRMR) spring schedule. For the season, Gillette College is running away with the CRMR overall team title with 1,590 points. Only the top two regional teams advance to the CNFR.
The real race is for second place between the CWC women and the Cowgirls. The UW women trail CWC by just 55 points heading into the spring season.
Josie Davison, a secondary education junior from Miles City, Mont., scored nearly all of UW's team points in Cheyenne, finishing third in the barrel racing average. She was third in both rounds.
Davison also is third in the barrel racing overall standings among all regional competitors.
UW received points from only one other team member, Cayla Allen. The elementary education freshman from Bellvue, Colo., placed fifth overall in breakaway roping.
The UW women have individual leaders in the three women's events. Nikki Steffes, a microbiology senior from Vale, S.D., is the top performer in all events, and sits atop the breakaway roping standings along with UW's Dana Weiser, a computer science junior from Wheatland.
Steffes, who also leads the all-around standings for the fifth straight year, has been granted another year of eligibility because she is the CRMR student director. However, her points do not count toward the UW women's overall standings.
If the UW men are to qualify for next summer's CNFR, they will need to finish higher in the standings at each rodeo next spring.
The Cowboys collected 310 points at Cheyenne, good for fifth place. They have moved to fourth place overall in the CRMR, but have a way to go to get to second place.
Season-long leader Gillette College has 2,900 season points, 200 better than runner-up CWC. In third place is Northeastern Junior College with 1,725, while the Cowboys have 1,390.
Merritt Smith, an animal science junior from Gillette, broke out of his season-long saddle bronc riding slump when he won the competition at LCCC. He won the short go after placing second in the opening round.
The Cowboys also got scoring from the region's top-rated team roping team of Chance and Dahl Nicholls. The rangeland management majors from Kinnear roped their way to sixth place in the average.
Dahl also added tie down roping points.
Listed are the team scores and the top six individuals in the average from the LCCC rodeo:
Women's team scores -- Gillette College (GC), 240; University of Wyoming (UW), 175; Casper College (CC), 140; Central Wyoming College (CWC), 110; Sheridan College (SC), 85; Chadron State College (CSC), 60; Colorado State University (CSU), 50; Laramie County Community College (LCCC), 30; Eastern Wyoming College (EWC), 15; Lamar Community College (LCC), 10.
Men's team scores -- CWC, 565; GC and Northeastern Junior College (NJC), 440; EWC, 380; UW, 310; CC, 280; Mesa Sate College (MSC), 210; LCC, 160; CSU, 90; CSC, 65; Otero College (OC), 30.
Goat tying -- Nikki Steffes, UW, 14.4; Traci Hinman, CWC, 14.6; Chyann Howard, UW, 15.1; Lacey Roberts, CSC, and Lacey Schuelke, SC, both 15.2; Chelsea Moore, GC, 15.6.
Breakaway roping -- Nikki Steffes, UW, and Taylor Holmes, CC, both, 6.6; Larame Pope, UW, 7.3; Sarah Davison, CWC, 9.9; Cayla Allen, UW, 13.3; Kaycee Nelson, UW, 14.1.
Barrel racing -- Nikki Steffes, UW, 33.35; Kayla Tisdall, CSU, 33.70; Josie Davison, UW, 33.82; Shay Stiles, CSU, 34.21; Amanda Welsh, GC, 34.21; Shaylee Jobman, LCCC, 34.26.
Bareback riding -- Ty Breuer, CWC, 157; Cameron Hopper, CWC, 147; Wyatt Clark, EWC, 145; Warren Stairs, LCCC, 141; Chance Madsen, CC, 137; Jed Wilson, CSC, and Troy Bechen, CC, both 135.
Saddle bronc riding -- Merritt Smith, UW, 152; Chancy Miller, GC, 145; Ray Tom Meiers, CC, 142; Cameron Hopper, CWC, 138. On two.
Bull riding -- Nathan Schaper, GC, and Kody Pierce, UW, both 148. On two.
Tie down roping -- Mitch McAdow, NJC, 18.1; Jarrod Soucie, MSC, 18.3; Cody McCluskey, NJC, 19.5; Dustin Smith, GC, 20.2; Tim Malm, NJC, 24.1.
Steer wrestling -- Thomas Osborne, CWC, 8.3; Jake Kraupie, EWC, 9.2; Kyle Broce, NJC, 9.6; Brayden Huxtable, CC, 10.1; Seth Bolerjack, UW, 11.6; Dalton Hall, NJC, 12.8.
Team roping -- Tyler Scnaufer, LCC/Riley Warren, CWC, 20; Trice Watts/Taylor Thompson, NJC, 22.3; Sina Parsaye, CSU/Jarrod Soucie, MSC, 22.9; Troy Wilcox, EWC/Eric Gewecke, SC, 42.6; Riley Milward/Jack Brown, UW, 46.1.
Posted on Tuesday, October 20, 2009