All-around winner leads CSC cowboys to team title

Novak earned the all-around title by winning the tie down roping and placing fifth in steer wrestling.   Seven other Chadron State entries also placed among the top six in their events to earn team points.

The Chadron State men also won the team championship at their own rodeo to open the Central Rocky Mountain Region season. In addition, they were second at Lamar College and fourth at Sheridan College in the remaining rodeos this fall.

Novak caught and tied his first calf in 10.8 seconds to place fourth in the opening go-round and had the fastest time of 11.1 seconds in the finals Sunday to win the event. He concluded his steer wrestling runs in 6.3 and 7.7 seconds.

A junior from Newell, South Dakota, Novak also was a member of a team roping duo that reached the finals. He and Colby Hetzel of Sheridan College completed their first run in in 10.3 seconds, but they didn’t get a time in the finals.

Another CSC cowboy, Lane Day of Bartlett, Nebraska, finished third in tie down roping in 9.9 and 12.9 seconds. He was third in the first go-round and fifth during his second run. 

Three Chadron State contestants placed in both bull riding and saddle bronc riding.

Cordale Martin of Panhandle, Texas, was second in the first go-round of bull riding with 72 points, was bucked off his second bull, but still finished third overall in the event. Teammates Ethan Lesiak of Clarks, Nebraska, and Chasen Cole of Hermosa, South Dakota, finished fifth and sixth, respectively.

Chadron State’s Colin Dibbern of Riverdale, Nebraska, was the saddle bronc riding runner-up. Two more CSC cowboys, Jed Rice of Kellogg, Idaho, and Cody Trump of Merriman, were third and fifth, respectively.

Jordan Tierney of Oral, South Dakota, was the only Chadron State cowgirl to reach the championship go-round Sunday. She placed third in goat tying in 8.1 and 8.3 seconds.

The region’s final fall rodeo will be this weekend at Laramie County Community College in Cheyenne.