T-Bird (Rodeo) Grabs Points at the Odessa Rodeo

The T-Birds sent five to the Short Round in Odessa with the quintuple all earning points on Saturday, March 1. 

A pair of team ropers led the men's side this weekend in Odessa. 

"We had a solid rodeo in the team roping event," NMJC men's rodeo head coach Stewy Kinley said. "It's been good to get a couple of teams to the short round every week. They've been practicing smart and roping really well so I wasn't surprised at all."

Lyvan Gonzalez & Cason Hatley were the top performers for NMJC this weekend finishing T-6 in the Long Round earning five points. The duo placed T-2 in the Short Round to earn 45 points and finished fourth in average to grab another 30 points. The pair each gained a total of 80 points with the placement Saturday night.

Hatley is in fourth place in the team roping heeler standings at 215 points and Gonzalez is in fifth place in the team roping header standings with 215 points.

"Lyvan and Cason were out Friday morning on the first run on the cattle. Thankfully they drew a decent one and knocked him down with a smart run," Kinley said. "Both these guys are really handy, and they don't get ahead of themselves."

"They drew another pretty good steer in the Short Round and made an outstanding run. The top teams in the Long Round drew even better and it got really tough in the average which moved them down to fourth. They managed to get 80 valuable points each out of Odessa and that will help move them up the standings quite a bit."

The men's team increased their team total to 675 points on the year and are now No. 10 in the Southwest Region Standings.

Nehemiah Mendoza & Teagan Taylor-Roukema made it to the Short Round for the first time in their career posting a 6.0 third-place finish in the Long Round to grab 40 points each. The pair posted a 17.5 in the Short Round, good enough for seventh place in the short and seventh in the average. The sophomores earned themselves a total of 40 points each this weekend at the Odessa Rodeo. 

"Nehemiah and Teagan made a really good run on their first steer and ended up 3rd in the Long Round," Kinley said. "It was good to see them get the monkey off their back since everything seemed to go wrong for them in the fall. They broke the barrier on their Short Round steer but made a really good run in the field. I look for that shot of confidence they gained this weekend to help them at the rest of the spring rodeos."

The women's side was led by freshman Kadey Urbantke in the breakaway roping.

"Kadey is a strong roper and her style fits our competitions really well," women's rodeo head coach Alexa Wilcox said. "We have worked hard on her seeing her start (giving the calf the appropriate head start) and she executed that perfectly this weekend."

Urbantke recorded a 2.7 second time in the Long Round to place T-10. The Muleshoe, Texas native tied for first place with a 2.6 in the Short Round earning 50 points. Urbantke finished third in average at 5.3 seconds to add 40 points for a total of 90 points in Odessa.  

"Kadey's horse Ruby is a powerhouse and the two together have had a very successful spring outside of the college rodeo, so I was ecstatic to see that continue at Odessa," Wilcox said. "It can be a very intimidating competition to come into a college rodeo Short Round as a freshman, but Kadey focused on doing what she needed to do and the results show that. I'm looking forward to watching her succeed at our next four rodeos."

The women's team now has 170 points on the year and moves up to ninth place in the Southwest Region Standings. 

The Thunderbirds have nearly a month off before they compete in the second rodeo of the spring March 27-29 in Sweetwater, Texas at the Ranger Rodeo.