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Newman Fifth In Women’s All-Around
In its second-to-last event of the spring season, the Northwest College rodeo teams did well at the U of M Spring Rodeo. The Trappers finished second behind Montana State, while the Lady Trappers took third, behind University of Montana-Western and Montana State.
NWC sophomore Caleb McMillan, ranked first in the nation in the men’s all-around, did well the first day of the event, but was unable to compete the second day due to a competition elsewhere.
“Caleb had to go to Torrington for the steer tripping finals for the PRCA,” said NWC head coach Del Nose. “Because of that, we didn’t get his average points, so that put us a little bit behind. Other than that, we did pretty good.”
The Trappers still hold a slim lead atop the Big Sky Region standings with 5,570 points, though Montana State made up some ground with the win in Missoula. The Bobcats sit in second with 5,091 points, a difference of just 479 points. The U of M Grizzlies are a distant third with 3,807 points. The Lady Trappers currently sit fourth in the Big Sky.
“We’re still almost 500 points ahead of Bozeman, so that’s a win-win for me,” Nose said. “We can’t take that lead lightly, we’ve got to rock this weekend [in Great Falls]. The whole team is healthy, so I’m excited about that.”
McMillan’s grasp on the men’s all-around title took a bit of a hit over the weekend with an eighth place finish. The sophomore won the bull riding and the calf roping in the first round, but because he missed the second round, his points weren’t applicable to the overall score.
“If we could have kept Caleb [McMillan] the second day and got his average points, they [MSU] wouldn’t have beat us,” Nose said.
Trapper teammate Calvin Shaffer fared better, taking second in saddle bronc riding, with NWC’s Clancy Glenn in third. Justin Katzenberg finished second in bull riding.
For the Lady Trappers, Braily Newman finished fifth in the women’s all-around. The freshman from Rigby, Idaho, was third in breakaway roping and fifth in goat tying. Teammate Scout Yochum finished ninth in goat tying.
The NWC rodeo teams travel to Great Falls, Montana, this weekend for the University of Providence Spring Rodeo, the final event of the spring season.
“This weekend’s huge for us. We’ve got to keep the pace and we’ve got to keep going,” Nose said. “Practices were great this week, and everybody’s chomping at the bit to get up there and see who gets to go to the college finals.”