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Trapper Women Jump Up A Spot
After winning two rodeos last week, the Northwest College men’s rodeo team padded its lead as the No. 1 team in the Big Sky Region. The Trappers boosted their advantage from 91.5 points to 531.5 by taking rodeos at Dawson Community College in Glendive, Montana, and at Miles Community College in Miles City, Montana.
“I was kind of hoping things would work out this way,” said head coach Del Nose, adding, “We got there and things started falling in place and the next thing you know, we jumped out there.”
The women’s team, meanwhile, jumped from sixth place in the region to fifth.
NWC MEN
Going into a pair of rodeos at Montana State University in Bozeman on April 6-9, the NWC men’s rodeo team was third overall; by the time the weekend’s competition had concluded, they had taken the lead.
That lead only grew.
At the Dawson Community College rodeo held April 20-21, the Trapper men piled up 815 points. University of Montana Western came in second with 640 and Montana State University in third with 420.
Trapper Weston Mann won the all-around with 315 points, placing second in saddle bronc with 135 points and team roping alongside Emilio Reyna for a first place finish in 17.3 seconds.
Caleb McMillan finished third in all-around with 255 points, placing first in bull riding with a 141-point ride and third in tie-down roping with a time of 24.5 seconds.
Also competing in bull riding was Jake Davis, who had a 74 point ride good for a fourth place finish.
Coach Nose said the performance at Dawson showed him that the men’s team has depth.
The Trappers then traveled to Miles City to compete at Miles Community College on Saturday and Sunday. They won again, this time with 865 points. Placing second, again, was University of Montana Western with 600 points and Montana State University came in third with 200 points.
A Trapper won the all-around for the fourth consecutive rodeo, with Bubba Boots emerging on top.
Boots took the all-around with 360 points — almost double the runner-up’s total of 185 points. Boots finished second in steer wrestling in 14.1 seconds — just 0.1 seconds behind the first-place finisher — and fourth in tie-down roping with a time of 22.5 seconds.
In team roping, Boots and Matthew Williams finished first with a 15 second time.
Mann won saddle bronc scoring 123 points, Davis placed second in bull riding with 40 points and McMillan finished third in tie-down roping with a time of 20.9 seconds.
“We had a great weekend,” said Nose.
For the Big Sky Region all-around standings, NWC has three of the top four placers. Boots ranks first with 1,488 points, Mann third with 1,114.5 and McMillan fourth with 1,010.
Though NWC doesn’t hold the top three all-around places, coach Nose said it’s “still pretty awesome,” to have three of the top four.
Mann currently sits fourth overall in saddle bronc riding and Austin Cutler is 14th.
Orrin Ouska is ninth in bareback.
In bull riding, McMillan is third and Davis is fourth. McMillan also leads tie-down roping, with Boots in fourth.
Boots, meanwhile, is first in steer wrestling and he and Williams rank second for team roping.
NWC WOMEN’S RODEO
Competing at Dawson Community College, Lady Trapper Sierra Lyons took second in the women’s all-around. Lyons’ finish was a result of a first-place finish in barrel racing, with a time of 35.3 seconds, and a sixth place finish in goat tying.
Her performance led the Trapper women to a fourth-place finish out of seven teams.
In Miles City, meanwhile, the women’s team finished sixth — including a sixth-place finish from Brooke Winward in goat tying.
Overall this season, the NWC women’s team currently ranks fifth.
Lyons is in 14th place in barrel racing and eighth in goat tying.
On Friday, the rodeo teams head to Missoula, Montana. Nose said he’s hoping the men will continue to carry the momentum from the last four rodeos — trying to fill the top three spots in each event.
“I’m just thrilled,” Nose said of the season. “It’s been a great ride so far and we hope we can make it roll clear through to college finals.
Out of 116 teams in the nation, the Northwest College men’s rodeo currently ranks in eighth place.