Chadron State College had eight entries place among the top six in their events to earn points at the University of Wyoming rodeo in Laramie this past weekend. That’s the most placings the CSC team has had at any of the 10 rodeos in the Central Rocky Mountain Region this season.
Top billing goes to Kalane Anders of Bayard. He was the all-around cowboy while also qualifying for the College National Finals Rodeo in Casper in June.
Two of his teammates aren’t real thrilled with how things turned out. Anders finished with 460 points for the season in steer wrestling, good for third in the regional standings. But it’s just five more points than Prestyn Novak of Newell, S.D., and only 10 more than Devin Dibbern of Riverdale, Neb., accumulated.
Since only the top three contestants from each event in the region advance to the CNFR and Taylor Davidson and Tom Davis of Central Wyoming College at Riverton grabbed the first two places, Novak and Dibbern didn’t qualify.
Davidson won the regional crown with 575 points; Davis’s total of 470 is just 10 more than Anders’s.
Anders had 410 points and Novak 390 in the steer wrestling standings entering the UW showdown. Novak flipped his steers in Laramie in 6.2 and 6.0 seconds to finish fifth in the event. Anders had a sparkling 5.0-second run in the first go-round and a 5.6 time in Sunday’s finals, but he also broke the barrier on the second run and was assessed a 10-second penalty.
Thus, Anders finished eighth in the UW standings, but the 50 points he earned by placing second in the opening go were enough to keep him ahead of Novak.
Dibbern did not get a time at the rodeo, but another CSC contestant, Cole Retchless of Bridgeport, was sixth with 6.0- and 6.6-second clockings.
Anders also finished fourth in tie down roping last weekend with runs of 10.5 and 11.0 seconds to earn the all-around honors. He also was the all-around cowboy at the Colorado State rodeo this spring.
Besides Anders, CSC bareback rider Rowdy Moon of Sargent will compete at the national finals. He had nailed down second place in the regional standing prior to the UW rodeo. He was fifth in his pet event last weekend, earning 68 and 70 points, and finishes the season having ridden 19 of the 20 broncs he drew.
Chadron State’s only first-place winner at Laramie was freshman bullrider Buck Butterfield of Worland, Wyo. He rode just one of his two bulls, but scored 85 points to win the opening go-around, and no one made it to the whistle on his second bull in the finals.
Three CSC cowgirls also placed at the Wyoming rodeo. Merisa Cominiello of Burlington, Colo., was third in breakaway roping in 2.5 and 3.5 seconds, Brandi Cwach of Geddes, S.D., was fifth in goat tying in 7.7 and 8.1 seconds and Jayde Atkins of Broken Bow was sixth in the barrel race in 14.69 and 15.02 seconds.
(Courtesy: Con Marshall)