The Central Wyoming College Rustlers traveled to Chadron, Nebraska this past weekend for the first rodeo of the season, and had eight positions back to the championship round on Sunday. Two of the cowboys, Thomas Davis and Cole Trainor, made it back in multiple events which resulted in Thomas capturing the Men’s All Around, and teammate Cole the Reserve All Around title for the weekend. The Men’s team placed second for the weekend behind the University of Wyoming, while the Women’s team ended up seventh overall.
Thomas led the way for the Rustlers placing third in both the Bareback Riding and Steer Wrestling. He placed second in the long round of the Barebacks with a 72 point ride, and fourth in the short round with a score of 71 giving him 143 on two head. He also placed third in the Steer Wrestling behind teammate Cole Trainor who ended up second. Thomas placed third in the long round with a 5.1 second run followed by a 5.9 in the short round, which was good enough to split third and fourth in the short round. Cole had a hard running steer in the long round, but he made a great run once he was able to get his hands on him, throwing him down in 5.6 seconds. He then came back to place second in the short round with a blazing 4.9 second run that jumped him up to second in the average with a total time of 10.5 on two head. Freshman Tyler Byrne also made two nice runs in the Steer Wrestling event, a 5.6 in the long round, followed by a 6.0 in the short round, which was fast enough to split fifth and sixth in the short round and sixth in the average. Brady Thurston was also in the championship round on Sunday after tying his first round calf in 11.1 seconds which was the second fastest time in the long round, but missed his calf in the short round bumping him all the way down to eighth in the average.
Karson Bradley led the way for the women’s team gathering up 70 points in the Barrel Racing. She had the fastest time in the long round, stopping the clock at at 17.60, but with a 18.29 in the short round, she fell short of gathering any points up in that round and placed sixth overall. Freshman Maddie Meidell gathered up some points in the Team Roping with teammate Cole Trainor. The duo stopped the clock with a 10.8 in the long round which placed 8th followed by a 15.1 in the short round. This bumped them up to fifth in the average.
“As a whole, I was very pleased with the performance of the team this weekend,” said Coach Drew Schrock. “They are a great bunch of young adults that work hard every day, in the classroom and practice pen. Collectively, they have all bought into the culture here. We teach to stay positive no matter what life throws at you, be good people and teammates, and work hard everyday. We will get back into the practice pen this week to make some adjustments and be ready to compete in Sheridan this coming weekend.”