Chadron State entries looking forward to national finals

The CSC cowboys finished the year with 4,460 points to win the regional team championship by 969 points over runner-up Casper College. This is the first time the Chadron State men have won the regional title and the second time they have qualified for the national finals.

The top two teams and top three contestants in each event advance to the CNFR.

Two Chadron State contestants also were crowned regional champions following the rodeo in Laramie. Shelby Winchell is the goat tying winner and Clayton Van Aken won the tie down roping. Both received saddles for their victories.

In addition, Van Aken finished third in the team roping header standings, Nate McFadden and John Kissick placed second and third, respectively, in the bareback standings and Dakota Rice placed third in bull riding for the season.

Winchell long ago had nailed down the goat tying championship, and finished the year with 1,080 points, 465 more than runner-up Amelia Anderson of the University of Wyoming.

Van Aken moved past Trent Turner of Northeastern Junior College to claim the tie down title by winning the first go-round at UW in 11 seconds flat while Turner came up empty. The Californian concluded the season with 555 points and Turner with 515.

After completing their first run in 6.9 seconds, Van Aken and his partner, Trey Yates of UW, were in good position to finish high in team roping, but Yates missed the hind legs on their second run. They still advance to the CNFR as the region’s third place team.

McFadden and Kissack also had qualified for the CNFR in bareback riding prior to last weekend’s rodeo. McFadden finished the season with 1,135 points and Kissack with 970. The event was won by Dylan Wahlert of Casper College with 1,585 points.

Wahlert also won first at the UW rodeo while McFadden was third with 64- and 75-point scores and Kissack was fourth with 66 and 67.

It was crucial that Rice rode at least one bull in Laramie to nail down his ticket the finals rodeo, and he did just that, scoring 78 points in the opening go-round. That was good for second place in the round and he placed third in the averages. The freshman from Kellogg, Idaho, concludes the year with 400 points and No. 3 in the regional standings.

Colby Anders of Bayard, Nebraska, had the highest finish of any Chadron State entries at the UW rodeo, when he was took second in steer wrestling in 5.0 and 4.7 seconds. He finished sixth in the regional standings and will be on the CSC team at the CNFR.

Two CSC freshmen also placed at the Wyoming rodeo. Lathan Lauing of Hot Springs, South Dakota, was third in tie down roping in 13.0 and 11.5 seconds and Colin Dibben of Riverdale, Nebraska, was fourth in saddle bronc riding with 68 and 66 points. Lauing also reached the steer wrestling and team roping finals.

Rodeo coach Dustin Luper believes with a little luck his Chadron State team will be capable of making a bid for the championship at the finals rodeo.

“They’re all good cowboys,” he noted.

Luper added that Winchell, who has already placed third and second in goat tying at the national finals, will definitely be one of the favorites in that event at Casper.