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Parts Of Competition, Including Saturday Finals, Broadcast in ESPN3
The College National Finals Rodeo (CNFR) started Sunday with the Northwest College men’s rodeo team entering the national event ranked fourth in the nation
Sunday featured bulls, broncs and breakaway; NWC’s only competitors on the day were Caleb McMillan and Jake Davis, who rode in the bullriding event.
Davis finished eighth in the first go-round, with a 73 point ride, and McMillan finished ninth with a 70.5 point ride.
The two finishes from the bullriders in day one put NWC in 19th place — but the team’s other four cowboys have yet to make their first appearances.
College rodeo is different from other collegiate sports in that individual colleges are not broken down into different divisions such as NAIA, NJCAA, Division I, etc. So all colleges with a rodeo team compete against each other.
The top two teams — both men and women — from each of the 11 National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association regions compete as well as the top three individuals in each event.
With its victory in the Big Sky Region, six members of the Northwest College men’s rodeo team are competing: Bubba Boots, Matthew Williams, Weston Mann, Emilio Reyna, Davis and McMillan.
Boots won the region in all-round, steer wrestling and, alongside teammate Williams, team roping. Boots also finished second in tie-down roping. He entered the finals ranked fifth place in all-round, 15th in steer wrestling, and 10th in team roping as header, while Williams entered in eighth as heeler.
McMillan finished first in the region in tie-down roping and third in all-around and bullriding. Heading into the finals, McMillan sat in 14th place in both bullriding and tie-down roping and 21st in all-around.
Davis, meanwhile, finished fourth in the region in bullriding and teammates Mann and Reyna took third in team roping.
The CNFR will be happening all week long with the final round taking place on Saturday at 7 p.m. ESPN3 will broadcast the event starting Wednesday. Results and a schedule are available at www.cnfr.com