NMJC Rodeo Caps Off Fall Season
The NMJC rodeo teams finished up their fall season with rodeos at Vernon College Oct. 20-22 and Texas Tech Oct. 27-29.
The T-Birds did not have the best draws in Vernon making it tough to advance to the short rounds.
"Vernon was a tough weekend, but we were proud to see sophomores Chase Skocdopole and Stran Pollitt," head rodeo coach Stewart Kinley said. "They placed 5th in the first round of the team roping but recorded a no time in the short round that left us 10th overall."
The T-Birds enjoyed better success in Lubbock as Texas Tech hosted their rodeo at Cook's Garage October 27-29. The weather was a big factor with a rainstorm hitting early Friday morning that caused the arena to be muddy and deep for the rest of the weekend.
Sophomore Kyla Kelly stole the show in the first round, placing in the Top 10 in the Breakaway Roping, Team Roping (with fellow sophomore Tanner Lockie), and Barrel Racing. A no time in the Breakaway and Team roping left her out of the average in those events, but a fourth place Short Round run in the Barrel Racing left her with a fourth place average finish in that event.
"Kyla ended the weekend with 95 points to go towards the regional standings and a second place All Around finish. Her performance also landed the T-Bird women with a fourth place team finish for the rodeo," Kinley said. "On the men's side, Tanner Lockie made it back to the Short Round in the team roping in the eighth spot with Kyla Kelly. Sophomore Dusty Golden rode two bulls to finish fifth in the average and put 40 points towards the standings."
"Tech was definitely a tough rodeo in the mud. All of our barrel racers except for Kyla Kelly ran in the worst of the mud Friday morning where they had to be gritty and go for it," Kinley said. "We're proud of those girls for going for it. Freshman Ashlyn Goven ended up 12th, just shy of making the short round. That was definitely a run we would have liked to get back to the short round."
Ashlyn Goven leads the women with 190 points for the season in the Barrel Racing and is 6th place in the Southwest Region standings in a tough field of barrel racers.
Caleb Lake is the top performer for the men in the Southwest Region with 90 points overall in Steer Wrestling.
Coach Kinley said he is looking forward to seeing his athletes learn from some of the mistakes from the fall season and to finally be fully healthy come springtime.
"Overall, our T-Birds learned a lot this semester and got a few kinks worked out. We would have liked to capitalize on some of our opportunities more this semester, but we will recover and use what we learned to have more success in the spring," Kinley said.
"Historically, we seem to do better in the spring so we're looking forward to that. As a team, we hope to better utilize our good draws and hopefully stay healthier as well," Kinley said. "Our women's team sits 9th in the region with 300 points at the end of this semester, which leaves us in a good position as long as we gain some consistency in the spring."
NMJC will begin the spring rodeo season in February.