UW Cowboys Wrap Up Fourth Consecutive Regional Title and Cowgirls’ Late Push Continues

With just one more Central Rocky Mountain Region (CRMR) rodeo left on the season, the University of Wyoming men’s team has wrapped up its fourth straight regional rodeo title, while the Cowgirls still have an outside shot of pulling off the same feat.

The Cowboys scored more than 750 points for the third straight CRMR competition over the weekend in taking Casper College’s annual Ropin’ and Riggin’ Days Rodeo with a spring season-best 790 points. It marked the seventh time in nine fall and spring competitions that the UW men have come away with a team title.

With just the April 28-30 home Laramie River Rendezvous Rodeo left, the Cowboys have accumulated a regional-best 5,781.66 points -- a nearly 1,600-point lead over second-place Casper College. The T-Birds are attempting to fend off third-place Laramie County Community College (LCCC) for the runner-up position in the region with just the top two teams getting automatic bids to June’s College National Finals Rodeo (CNFR) in Casper.

Casper College has 4,110 points this season, while the Golden Eagles have scored 3,570 points heading into the season finale. LCCC was second at Casper, finishing as the distant runner-up to the Cowboys with 445 points.

Meanwhile, the Cowgirls, who are making a late-season push, won for the second consecutive weekend, taking the Casper College rodeo with 282.5 points to cut into seasonlong regional leader Gillette College’s overall lead. Sheridan College was second to UW in Casper with 255 points.

The Pronghorns have totaled 3,394 points through nine rodeos, while the Cowgirls need a big weekend in their home rodeo to overtake the Gillette women. The UW women have 2,915.83 points on the season. Both teams are assured of qualifying for the CNFR.

“We, as a team, have really hit a stride, and it is fun to watch them compete with so much confidence,” UW Coach Beau Clark says of his two teams’ weekend performances. “I am excited to see how our home UW rodeo plays out in a couple of weeks. And, many of our athletes have already secured their spots at the CNFR this past weekend, which is unique.”

With five of the six Cowboys on the points team scoring -- including an individual who won his event and another who was named the all-around -- the UW men relied on their overall balance on both ends of the arena to dominate at Casper College.

Individual results were:

-- Kemmerer’s Donny Proffit had his best weekend of the spring season when he took the bareback riding title by putting together two solid rides. He had the second-best mark in the opening round and won the short go to give him the average.

-- Brice Patterson, from Bozeman, Mont., in the same event, was runner-up to Proffit. Patterson was third in the opening round and had the second-best mark in the short go.

-- Cameron Jensen, of Hyannis, Neb., placed in the top three in two events to secure the all-around title. He recorded the third-best times in both rounds of tie down roping to place second in the average and, on the other end of the arena, he used the second-best time in the short go to place third in the average.

-- Bodie Mattson, from Sturgis, S.D., also placed in two separate events, taking fifth in both roping events. He recorded the fifth- and fourth-best times in both rounds of tie down roping. He and Casper College’s Carson Johnson won the opening round of team roping, but they did not place among the top six in the short go.

-- In the same event, Rio Nutter, of Rapid City, S.D., and heeler partner Reece Wadhams, of LCCC, used the second-best time in the short go to finish third in the average.

Three Cowboys not on the six-man points team also placed over the weekend. Gillette’s Stratton Kohr won both rounds to take the tie down roping average; and Drake Amundson, of Wheatland, and Greybull’s Colton Farrow were fifth and sixth, respectively, in bareback riding.

Faith Hoffman, from Kiowa, Colo., continued her late-season goat tying streak by winning the opening round, recording the second-fastest time in the short go to give her the overall average. She, alone, accounted for 170 of the team’s total points.

-- In the same event, teammate Kelsey Lensegrav, of Interior, S.D., split sixth in the opening round and was fourth in the short go to give her fifth in the average.

-- Sage Kohr, from Gillette, was second in the opening round to give her sixth in the breakaway roping average.

Two Cowgirls not on the four-member points team placed over the weekend. Gillette’s Emme Norsworthy won the barrel racing event, while hometown teammate Halle Hladky was fifth overall.

CRMR teams have a bye weekend.