Your future, our focus
The saddle bronc results summed up the Northwest College rodeo team’s experience.
By placing four riders in the top five, the Trappers accumulated points in a rapid manner at the Dawson Community College rodeo gathering of the Big Sky Region last weekend in Glendive, Mont.
Clancy Glenn and Caleb McMillan tied for second, Calvin Shaffer placed fourth and Cody Weeks fifth.
Putting that many competitors so high in a single event is a rarity – except that as Northwest has romped through the early portion of the schedule, the team also did it in bull riding in Cody a week earlier.
“Oh, I think we’re planning on that happening every time,” McMillan said. But he also knows that such a successful cluster does not play out too often. “It’s pretty danged cool.”
McMillan has pretty much been the LeBron James of the Trappers, once again scoring in multiple ways on his way to the all-around title, which he also leads on the season.
McMillan’s name leaps off the page of the rodeo results as if it is in neon.
“That’s a good thing,” McMillan joked.
He was first in the all-around, had that second-place tie in saddle bronc, was fifth in steer wrestling and first in tie-down roping.
“Caleb, he had a super rodeo,” said coach Del Nose.
McMillan’s favorite performance was the tie-down victory, “winning both the rounds of the calf roping.”
The Trappers scored 550 points to runner-up Montana State’s 470 and has amassed 2,097.5 points in the overall standings. Montana State is next among the other seven region teams with 1,573 points.
“It’s been amazing,” Nose said. “It’s been a great ride. It’s a good start. If we keep it up we’ll be golden.”
Trapper women were fifth in Dawson and are fifth overall.
The leading Northwest woman’s finish last weekend was Scout Yochum’s tie for eighth in goat tying.
After three rodeos, McMillan is tops in men’s all-around, first in tie-down roping, third in bull riding, fourth as a team-roping header, fourth in saddle bronc and 12th in steer wrestling.
“I just had a good weekend,” McMillan said, though it has been more a good September.
Keaton Martz, who took second in bulls at Dawson, is first in the bull riding standings.
Glenn leads in saddle bronc and Shaffer and Weeks are ranked highly, as well as McMillan.
Although Glenn knows he is ahead, he has not read the standings and doesn’t know the numbers. He’s too superstitious.
“I don’t look at the scores,” he said. “It gets in my head. I’m getting pretty lucky.”
Instead of bragging, Glenn spoke of working hard to get better. Since perfection is a 100-point ride and there has never been such a total, he has to keep striving.
“That score is impossible,” Glenn.
Something that is not impossible, but difficult to accomplish, would be the men sweeping every Big Sky rodeo, five in the fall and five in the spring.
“Hopefully, we can win all 10,” McMillan said.