UW Men Set Record Right Out of the Chutes

It didn’t take long for the University of Wyoming men’s rodeo team to establish itself as the team to beat in the Central Rocky Mountain Region (CRMR) this fall.

The Cowboys simply “crushed it,” as UW Coach Beau Clark would say, as his men’s team broke the 900-point barrier for the first time ever in establishing a new school record for total points in dominating the opening fall rodeo. The Cowboys got production from five of their six points team members in rolling up 945 points to outdistance the host Laramie County Community College squad, which had 725 points in the first of five fall rodeos. Third went to Casper College with 425 points.

The new record tops the previous mark of 875 points set last season. The UW men are the three-time defending CRMR team champions.

“I didn’t know what to think going into this year,” Clark says, because his team lost major point producers from last year’s club, and he did not know how the Cowboys would stack up against regional schools. “It was awesome to see so many people have a great weekend. We have been working to build the roughstock end of the arena, and it’s great to see so many of them have great success.”

The Pokes came away with a pair of event champions, two runner-up competitors and points in five of the six men’s events.

Both Donny Proffit and Garrett Uptain picked up where they left off last year in their specialty events, where both are the reigning regional champion bronc riding titleholders.

Proffit, of Kemmerer, won both the long and short gos to win the bareback riding average. Uptain, from Craig, Colo., matched his teammate’s dominance in taking the saddle bronc riding title.

In all, the Cowboys picked up points in almost each event, with some having multiple winners:

-- Uptain added to his team-leading 270 individual points by also placing third in the bull riding average.

-- Austin Hurlburt, from Norfolk, Neb., picked up 180 individual points by placing third in tie down roping and fifth in the bulldogging competition.

-- Newcomer Brice Patterson, from Bozeman, Mont., also was a multievent place winner. He was the runner-up to Proffit in saddle bronc riding and came up second in steer wrestling to score 255 individual points in his points team debut.

-- The final 60 points came from Chadron Coffield, from Yuma, Colo., in steer wrestling, where he was fourth in the average.

The three-time defending champion UW women’s team was slow out of the chutes in the first rodeo last weekend in Cheyenne. The Cowgirls managed just 150 points in placing third in the Shawn Dubie Memorial Rodeo. Eastern Wyoming College took the opener with 325 team points, while Casper College tallied 233.33 points for the runner-up position.

Faith Hoffmann, from Kiowa, Colo., was the top point getter for the Cowgirls, scoring 70 points in goat tying, where she split fourth in the average. Taylour Latham, from Roosevelt, Utah, was third in the opening round of goat tying but did not place in the average. The UW teammates were 1-2 in the region last year in the event.

Defending barrel racing champion Karson Bradley, from Big Piney, added the final 40 points, where she was fifth in the short go and the overall average.

The CRMR competition resumes this weekend with the Chadron State College rodeo in Chadron, Neb.