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Lahaye Leads Regional All-Around By More Than 200 Points
The top four bull riders were all from Northwest College’s rodeo team and Trapper cowboy Lane Lahaye claimed the coveted title of leading in the all around for both nights at the Dawson Community College rodeo in Glendive, Montana, on Friday and Saturday.
“We kind of got the bugs out in Cody and it seems like we did good — but it was a tough rodeo,” said head coach Del Nose. “We are on a roll and we are excited about it.”
“The first rodeo, there is always some nervousness,” said Trapper cowboy Casey Fredericks. “We just got our nervous out in the first one, and went out and had fun.”
Fredericks turned some heads when his bull gave four complete rotations for 1,440 degrees of spin and 13 bucks in just 8 seconds on Friday night. Fredericks raked in 130 points for the win and just two points behind him was Tyler Sterner in second with 128.
“I kept lifting on my rope and going back to base,” Fredericks said, noting he practiced at some non-collegiate rodeos since the season opener.
Unlike their first rodeo of the year in Cody, the Trappers had a more casual approach, Fredericks said, noting that the team was able to “joke around” and wasn’t feeling as much pressure.
“We all did pretty dang good this weekend — it wasn’t a bad weekend at all,” Fredericks said.
Fellow Trappers Garrett Remington and Taylor Roberts claimed third and fourth place with 117 and 108 points respectively — nearly double fifth place’s Connor Murnion of Miles Community College who had 59.
“Just keep having fun is the main thing,” Fredericks said. “In bull riding, it is 99 percent mental ... Hopefully the four of us can keep it rolling next weekend in Dillon.”
Fredericks said the plan for the fall season’s final rodeo is to keep positive, but “don’t get your head too high.”
“It was a first time for me in my tenure to win all four places in the bull riding,” Nose said, noting that he’d coached teams that had done it before in steer wrestling and timed events, but never bull riding. “Them guys rode and the others didn’t — they rode good. The second day, they all bucked off, so how do you explain that? It is a crap shoot.”
It was an all around good night for the Trappers’ bull riders, but the team wasn’t done yet.
For the men’s all around, Lahaye left his competition in the dust on both nights with 270 points on Friday, nearly 100 ahead of second ranked cowboy Wrye Williams of University of Montana.
Lahaye returned to the arena the next night and did it all again, this time bringing in 302 points, edging out Montana State University’s Will Powell who had 271 points.
To seal the deal in the all around, Lahaye was the top Trapper cowboy in tie down roping, steer wrestling and team roping both nights. He currently leads the region in the all around by more than 200 points with a total of 780.
“He has got talent and is a cowboy,” Nose said. “He is roping good, tying down claves good — it is what hard practice does and it pays off.”
OVERALL
Friday was NWC’s best night, with the men’s team placing second with 575 points behind University of Montana Western’s 640 points.
The NWC men’s team continued to rack up the points on Saturday with 497, good for third place — nearly double the amount held by the fourth place team, Miles Community College.
The women’s team placed seventh Friday night, and came back on Saturday to claim third place with 59.5 points.
“I feel good about the men’s team, but I am worried about the women’s team,” Nose said. “We had a come to Jesus meeting, it isn’t that they aren’t trying, it is that things aren’t working out for them. We had a huddle and we will see what happens.”
It was just a rough rodeo for the Trapper women, particularly for Shelby Mann, whose thumb broke when it got stuck in her dally during the team roping event.
“It was hanging by the tendons and they had to put pins in and hope she doesn’t lose it,” Nose said.
Mann said she was done for the fall season, but will be back in the saddle this spring.
“She wants to rodeo, she is tough,” Nose said.
The Trappers are heading to Dillon this weekend for the final rodeo of the fall season.
“The competition is tough, especially when up against four-year schools,” Nose said. They’ve got two more years of seasoning and maturity and we come in as freshmen and sophomores — but these kids want it.”
BAREBACK
Bareback rider Jesse Nelson represented the Trappers well both nights in Glendive, placing third on Friday with 140, just five points behind the tie for first.
“Jesse Nelson had a good weekend,” Nose said.
Saturday was a tough night for all the bareback riders, Nelson included. The top rider was Wyatt Bloom of Montana State with 79 and Nelson wasn’t too far behind with 64 points for fourth.
Nelson is currently ranked fourth in the region for bareback riding with 292 points.
TIE DOWN ROPING
Lahaye was the only Trapper cowboy to rank in the tie down roping on Friday and Saturday. He had a bit of a rough start on Friday as he tied for eighth place with Will Powell. But, he came back on Saturday for a second place time with 11 seconds, just behind Will Powell’s leading time of 10.8.
STEER WRESTLING
Lahaye’s performance continued to draw attention as he tied for fourth in the steer wrestling event on Friday with 30.5. The next day, he returned for a fifth place time of 8.4. Not far behind him was fellow Trapper Justin Honken in seventh with 11.1.
TEAM ROPING
Trapper cowboy Shawn Bird’s name is synonymous with college rodeo team roping after finishing regionals top in the nation last spring — and it’s starting to look like he could do it again this year.
“They jumped in the lead considerably in the standings,” Nose said, adding that he’s hoping for a repeat of Bird’s performance last year.
Bird, now roping as a heeler, with Lahaye as the header, made the fastest catch of the night on Friday with a 16.6 time — more than 3 seconds ahead of the second place duo from University of Montana Western.
Saturday didn’t go quite as well for Bird and Lahaye as they came in third with 8.1. But, they weren’t the only Trappers to make the catch.
Twin ropers Tyler and Clay Doney came in eighth with 11.1.
Bird and Lahaye already have a solid standing in first for the Big Sky Region with 403 points each, more than double the second place team’s 191.
BREAKAWAY ROPING
Competition was tight in the breakaway roping, as NWC’s only cowgirl in the event, Rachel Kerr, found out. Kerr tied for fifth place with a 4.4-second time on Saturday, just 1.1 seconds behind the first place time.
GOAT TYING
The Trapper ladies had a rough go in the goat tying last weekend. Tori Lewis placed eighth with 16.7 and Sierra Lyons was next in line with 20.8. No Trapper cowgirls placed on Saturday night, and none placed in barrel racing for either of the rodeos.