Two CSC cowboys are regional champions

Prestyn Novak, a junior from Newell, S.D., won the tie down roping championship and sophomore Chasen Cole of Hermosa, South Dakota, the region’s bull riding winner.

Two more bull riders also will compete at the CNFR.  They are junior Cordale Martin of Panhandle, Texas, who finished second in the region, and sophomore Dakota Rice of Kellogg, Idaho, who gets to compete at nationals after serving as the student representative on the region’s board of directors this year.

Both Novak and Cole will receive saddles for their regional victories.

Novak finished the year with 590 points to edge two Casper College ropers for top honors in the region. Bryce Bott earned 570 points and Logan Brown 540. Chadron State’s Lane Day was sixth in the tie down standings with 330 points.

Cole came from behind to win the bull riding title by placing second in the event at the University of Wyoming rodeo this past weekend. He finished the season with 580 points. Martin is the runner-up with 510. Logan Biever of Gillette College is third with 480.

Rice is also a capable bull rider. He finished fifth in the regional standings this year with 290 points and for the finals rodeo a year ago, when he placed third in the region.

The top two teams and top three individuals in each event for the year qualify for the CNFR.   

Novak also competed at last year’s finals as a member of Chadron State’s regional championship men’s team, and finished eighth among the 46 entries in the final tie down standings. 

Besides winning this year’s regional tie down championship, Novak was seventh in steer wrestling and also earned points in team roping to finish third in the all-around cowboy standings. Riley Wakefield, a native of O’Neill, Nebraska, and a sophomore at Gillette College, won the all-around title with 1,605 points. Brady Thurston of Central Wyoming was second with 1,200 and Novak third with 1,180.

Among Chadron State cowgirls, Brandi Cwach of Geddes, South Dakota, came the closest to qualifying for nationals. She finished fifth in goat tying with 591.67 points. The third place goat tier had 633.67.

The region’s all-around cowgirl is Quincy Segelke of Gillette College with 1,477 points. Lacy Camp of Casper College was second with 1,000.