Your future, our focus
Caleb McMillan proved once again that he is an all-around guy.
The Northwest College sophomore had a LeBron James kind of performance in the Trappers’ first rodeo of the spring last weekend at Montana State, scoring the equivalent of a triple-double, or maybe a quadruple-double.
Entering the second half of the season in second place in the Big Sky Region, the Trappers edged their hosts 650 points to 640 in the eight-team competition with McMillan repeatedly riding to glory.
“He had a fantastic weekend,” Northwest coach Del Nose said.
The journey to Bozeman was broken into two rodeos and the Trappers won the Thursday-Friday-Saturday event, but had many little things go wrong in the Sunday rodeo and finished second to Montana State.
In the opening rodeo, McMillan captured the all-around by 125 points over Zane Joseph Marcenko of Northern Montana. McMillan won the bull riding, took second in saddle bronc riding and second in steer wrestling.
Other high finishes for Northwest were recorded by Dawson Cvancara as a team roping header, Bubba Boots, tied for fourth in steer wrestling, Calvin Shaffer, tied for fifth in saddle and Kyle Smith, tied for ninth in bareback riding.
The Northwest women did not post a team score and did not have anyone place high in the rankings. However, Tori Lewis of Meeteetse, and a transfer from Northwest, competing for Montana Western, was second in goat tying.
Although the first-rodeo victory was sweet, Montana State regrouped and crushed the Northwest men 815-328 in the second rodeo, widening the team’s advantage in the regional standings. Whatever could go wrong, did go wrong for the Trappers, Nose said, from bad luck to mistimed efforts to feet slipping out of stirrups.
McMillan finished second in the all-around this time, taking third in saddle bronc, third in bull riding and fourth in steer wrestling.
Several other Trappers posted good scores and placings in the second rodeo, with Marc Dorendorf capturing the bull riding and Beau Smith taking fifth. Will Griffel and Boots went 2-8 as tie-down roping headers with partners Colten Fisher and Matt Williams scoring in the same manner as heelers.
On the women’s side, Braily Newman earned third in the all-around for Northwest with a tie for fifth in goat tying and an eighth in breakaway roping.
“She’s coming along,” Nose said. “She works hard at it.”
Lewis tied for first in the goat tying in the second rodeo.
Thinking about the chances of his team qualifying for the College National Finals, Nose said Montana State’s win in the second rodeo was a significant roadblock.
“We’ve got a lot of stampeding to do,” he said.