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NWC Rodeo Team Succeeds Despite Downpour During Miles City Rodeo
Not even a downpour of rain could dampen the Northwest College rodeo team’s spirits as they racked up some serious points at the Miles City rodeo last weekend.
“The short-go got to everyone — we had 3 inches of rain, it wasn’t fun,” said head coach Del Nose. “We muscled through it and Dillon (University of Montana, Western) got back on top a bit and we are third again.”
The Trapper men comprised the only two-year school team to place in the top three with 400 points for third place. University of Montana, Western, placed second with 495 and Montana State University was on top with 615.
The Trapper women were just 10 points shy of breaking into the top three with 130 points to Dawson Community College’s 140. Montana State University was not too far ahead in second with 190 and University of Montana, Western, was first with 225.
Nose said he thought the Trappers would have done better had the weather not brought record rainfall.
“We had a real good weekend,” Nose said. “We are still working; it is a work in progress and (we) had a good practice last night, so we are marching on.”
NWC’s Jesse Nelson and Shelby Mann both left Montana with bragging rights for their first-place rides over the weekend.
Nelson won the bareback event with a 132, a solid eight points ahead of MTSU’s Wyatt Bloom and third place rider Cache Hill from University of Great Falls who scored 112.
“He worked hard at it, he was sicker than hell the first part of the week, but he rode through it and rode tough and it paid off,” Nose said.
Nelson said both the broncs he rode were young, but he managed to pull down a 60-point ride on his first horse and a 72 in the short go.
“(The) first horse was alright, straight across the pen, but weakened at the end,” Nelson said. “Second horse in the rain and cold was pretty colty. Kinda threw a wild horse fit in the mud ... I rode pretty good both times.”
Mann was the only breakaway roper to make a catch in the short round, sealing the deal for her top-place win with an 8.4. This moved her up to about 15th in the Big Sky Region, Nose said.
Mann said she has been working hard and practicing to get back to how she was roping prior to getting injured.
“That hard work is paying off,” she said. “I knew that in the long round I just had to go out there and be smooth and get one down. Then in the short round it was rainy and cold and muddy and everybody was struggling, and when it was my turn I just took a deep breath and did the same thing and it paid off.”
Two Trapper cowboys placed in the tie down roping with Bubba Boots in fifth place with 35.8 followed by Levi Mydland in sixth with 12.2.
An additional sixth-place finish came from Tori Lewis, who tied it in with a 23.3 in the goat tying event.
The Trappers are currently preparing for their second-to-last rodeo of the season in Missoula this weekend.
“Well, everyone is scrambling and stepping their game up and the next two rodeos are critical for us,” Nose said. “We are in the gate, so we got as good of a shot as anyone. It is between Dillon and us for the team standing.”
BIG SKY, BIG CHALLENGE
If everything goes well during the final two rodeos of the season, the Trapper men could end up taking six cowboys to the College National Finals Rodeo this summer.
The NWC men are currently third in the Big Sky Region with 3,625.5 points, closing in on University of Montana, Western, who have 3,653.5. MSU leads the region with 4,836.5.
The NWC womens team is currently sixth in the region with 571 points.
Lane Lahaye continues to lead the region in the mens All Around with 1,211 points, but he will need to continue to make wins if he wants to keep that title as MTSU’s Will Powell is right on his heels with 1,127. Trapper cowboy Bubba Boots is ranked third in the All Around with 895.
Lahaye and Shawn Bird are top of the region for team roping with 584, well ahead of MTSU’s second-place duo, which has just 510.
Boots and Lahaye are second and third, respectively, in the steer wrestling — but competition is tight. Boots is sitting solid with a 505 for second and Lahaye has third with 391, and MTSU’s Dalton Hurst is close behind with 387.5.
A third-place rank in the region is needed in order to compete at the finals and three Trappers are sitting in fourth place, with those two rodeos to go for the season.
Boots is fourth for the tie down roping with 390, not too far behind the third place spot held by Rocky Mountain College’s Zane Holdbrook with 417.
Nelson is fourth in the region in bareback with 718.5 points, a lot of ground to cover to best the current third-place score of 887.
Casey Fredericks is fourth for bull riding with 200, just 27 points behind UMT’s Jacob Curtis.
Four of the Trappers are heading to the finals — Lahaye, Boots, Bird and Fredericks.
“Then Jesse needs a couple of good rodeos,” Nose said, adding that it would bump the overall team’s standing up and six of the Trappers could compete at the finals.
“We have been practicing hard and get right to the grind stone and put the edge on so we can go in there and be competitive,” Nose said. “It’s full steam ahead, we can’t weaken now.”