CSC entries ride high at their home rodeo

Nine CSC entries finished among the top six in their events with three of them claiming runner-up honors and another placed third.

The CSC men were the runners-up in the team standings for second weekend in a row and they lead the Central Rocky Mountain Region standings after the first two rodeos of the 2015-16 season.

They scored 440 points at the first rodeo hosted by Central Wyoming College at Riverton the previous weekend and tallied an even 500 points at home.  That gives CSC 940 points while Eastern Wyoming College at Torrington is second with 925. 

Eastern Wyoming won the men’s title this past weekend with 595 points. The University of Wyoming was third with 470.

Van Aken roped and tied both of his calves faster than anyone else at the Chadron State rodeo.  His times were 10.2 and 9.9 seconds.  No one else finished their runs in less than 11.1 seconds.  A graduate student from California, Van Aken also won the tie down roping at the CSC rodeo two years ago when he was a senior at the University of Wyoming.  Both of his times that year were 9.4 seconds.

Two Chadron State rough stock entries finished second in their events and another placed third.  Senior Nate McFadden of Elsmere, Neb., scored 76 and 66 points in bareback riding for his runner-up honor and teammate Justin Kissick of Gillette was third with scores of 58 and 73.  The other runner-up for coach Dustin’s Luper’s team was freshman Dakota Rice of Kellogg, Idaho, who scored 79 and 68 points in bull riding.

Just seven rough stock contestants made it to the eight-second whistle during the rodeo. They included the bareback winner, Dylan Wahlert of Casper, who had scores of 64 and 81 points, and bull riding titlist Jacob Smith of the University of Wyoming with marks of 77 and 74 points. Both nipped the CSC cowboys who finished second by three points.

The story was similar in saddle bronc riding. Just five of the 31 contestants made it to the whistle in the first go-round and only two of the five stayed aboard in the championship go-round Sunday morning. Travis Nelson of Gillette College was the saddle bronc winner with 59 and 73 points and Tanner Butner of Central Wyoming College at Riverton was next with 63 and 66.

Shelby Winchell of Scottsbluff, who long ago proved to be one of the nation’s top goat tiers, was CSC’s third runner-up. She wrapped up her goats in 7.6 and 6.9 seconds.  Her time in the finals was the fastest of the rodeo, but Ashten Marchant of Lamar College in Colorado has a pair of 7.2 runs to win the title by a tenth of a second.

Two more CSC goat tiers, Kelsey Knust of Verdigre and Charmayne Strong of Rushville, were fifth and sixth in the finals standings.

Also placing sixth for CSC were Clint Nelson of Philip, S.D., in steer wrestling and Lathan Lauing of Hot Springs and McFadden in team roping.

Broken barriers in Sunday’s finals cost two CSC cowboys high placings in tie down roping. Both Colby Anders of Bayard and Lane Day of Bartlett completed their runs in 10.7 seconds, faster than anyone except for Van Aken, but both were assessed 10-second penalties for leaving the box an instant too soon. Without the infractions, they were have finished second and third. 

Besides Marchant, the goat tying winner, Lamar College’s Melanie Roman won barrel race and teammate, Jayla Reed, was third in the latter event to lead their team to first place in the women’s standings.  The University of Wyoming was a distant second with 280.  Gillette was third with 238.3. CSC was sixth with 165.

Coralee Spratt of Gillette College won the breakaway roping in 2.6 and 3.1 seconds.

Other cowboys to take top honors were Colton Hill of Central Wyoming, who completed his steer wrestling runs in 4.4 and 4.3 seconds to win the event by 3.7 seconds, and Eastern Wyoming team ropers Riley Curuchet and Denton Shaw, whose total time of 14.6 seconds was more than six seconds faster than the second place entry.

Both all-around winners were from Gillette College.  The all-around cowboy was freshman Riley Wakefield of O’Neill, Neb., who was second in tie down roping and third in steer wrestling.  The cowgirls’ honor went to Brooke Howell, who was a member of the team roping entry that shared third and fourth places and also was a breakaway roping finalist.

Rodeo is a growing sport in the region. This year’s CSC rodeo had 647 entries, about 50 more than a year ago. There were 514 entries two years ago.

This weekend’s rodeo will be at Sheridan College.   

The placings at the CSC rodeo:  

Bareback riding—1, Dylan Wahlert, Casper, 64-81, 145 points; 2, Nate McFadden, Chadron, 76-66, 142; 3, Justin Kissack, Chadron, 58-73, 131; 4, Chance Englebert, Laramie County, 0-74, 74; 5, Brock Wahlert, Wyoming, 54-0, 54; 6, Jesse Bunner, Casper, 0-42, 42.

Saddle bronc riding—1, Travis Nelson, Gillette, 59-73, 132 points; 2, Tanner Butner, Central Wyoming, 63-66, 129; 3, Sam Thurston, Sheridan, 66-0, 66; 4, Colton Miller, Central Wyoming, 64-0, 64; 5, Kash Deal, Sheridan, 52-0, 52.

Bull riding—1, Jacob Smith, Wyoming, 77-74, 151 points; 2, Dakota Rice, Chadron, 79-68, 147; 3, Brandon Olson, Laramie County, 88-0, 88; 4-5, Weston Hartman, Sheridan, and Tom Straley, Lamar, 72-0, 72.

Tie down roping—1, Clayton Van Aken, Chadron, 10.2-9.9, 20.1 seconds; 2, Riley Wakefield, Gillette, 11.1-11.7, 22.8; 3, AJ Freeman, Eastern Wyoming, 12.0-11.6, 23.6; 4, Cody Lane, Eastern Wyoming, 11.1-12.9, 24.0; 5, JJ Skarohlid, Eastern Wyoming, 11.5-13.1, 24.6; 6, Ethan Cahill, Wyoming, 12.2-13.7, 25.9.

Steer wrestling—1, Colton Hill, Central Wyoming, 4.4-4.3, 8.7 seconds; 2, Tanner Freeman, Eastern Wyoming, 7.1-5.3, 12.4; 3, Riley Wakefield, Gillette, 5.0-8.2, 13.2; 4, Dillon Simonson, Wyoming, 5.5-8.0, 13.5;  5, Brady Thurston, Central Wyoming, 8.0-6.0, 14.0; 6, Clint Nelson, Chadron, 8.0-6.7, 14.7.

Team roping—1, Riley Curuchet and Denton Shaw, Eastern Wyoming, 6.7-7.9, 14.6 seconds; 2, Brady Merritt and Reed Merritt, Wyoming, 8.8 and 12.1, 20.9; 3-4, Blaine Finney and Cotey Hanson, Eastern Wyoming, and Brooke Howell and Tate Rhoads, Gillette, 6.0-0. 6.0; 5, Brady Joseph, Laramie County and Tyler Weeding, Casper, 7.6-0, 7.6; 6, Lathan Lauing and Nate McFadden, Chadron, 8.1-0, 8.1.

Goat tying—1, Ashten Marchant, Lamar, 7.2-7.2, 14.4 seconds; 2, Shelby Winchell, Chadron, 7.6-6.9, 14.5; 3, Amelia Anderson, Wyoming, 7.5-7.4, 14.9; 4, Calby Hanson, Sheridan, 7.6-7.6, 15.2; 5, Kelsey Knust, Chadron, 7.9-8.0, 15.9; 6, Charmayne Strong, Chadron, 8.0-8.7, 16.7.

Breakaway roping—1, Coralee Spratt, Gillette, 2.6-3.1, 5.7 seconds; 2, Callie Robinson, Sheridan, 2.5-4.0, 6.5; 3-4, Karlee Peterson, Wyoming, 2.8-3.8, 6.6; and Taylor Engesser, Gillette, 2.3-4.3, 6-6; 5, Bailey Fruit, Casper, 2.6-4.1, 6.7; 6, Syerra Christensen, Laramie County, 2.1-12.3, 14.4.

Barrel racing—1, Melanie Roman, Lamar, 16.39-16.81, 33.20 seconds; 2, Cara Jolly, Northeastern, 16.50-16.77, 33.27; 3, Jayla Reed, Lamar, 16.72-16.77, 33.49; 4, Samantha Eckert, Colorado State, 16.53-17.06, 33.59; 5, Kailee Webb, Wyoming, 16.87-16.74, 33.61; 6, Kodee Williams, Casper, 16.64-16.98, 33.62. 

—Con Marshall