Chadron State College steer wrestler Kalane Anders of Bayard made his last run at the College National Finals Rodeo in Casper last week his fastest.
Competing in the short go-round on Saturday night, Anders flipped his steer in 4.1 seconds to place second in the session and claim eighth place in the final standings. Among the 12 finalists, only Walt Arnold of Cisco Junior College in Texas, whose time was 3.9 seconds, had a better time on his last run.
The steer wrestling championship was won by Bridger Anderson of Northwestern Oklahoma State with four runs were 3.8, 3.9, 4.7 and 6.7 seconds for a 19.1 total. Anders’ four times totaled 22.6 seconds.
After needing 8.1 seconds to bring down his first steer, Anders had to play catchup the rest of the rodeo. His other times were good—4.4, 6.0 and 4.1. Just one of the remaining 12 finalists had a time over 8 seconds.
Anders, who graduated in May, will continue to enter regional rodeos this summer. CSC Coach Dustin Luper thinks Anders has a bright future as a professional steer wrestler.
Two more CSC entries at the CNFR were on the cusp being among the 12 finalists in their events.
Breakaway roper Quincy Segelke caught her first two calves in 2.1 and 2.6 seconds, putting her in third place through the first two go-rounds. But she failed to catch her third calf in the final regular session Friday night, and finished in 13th place among the 50 women in the event.
The breakaway roping champion was Taylor Munsell of Southwestern Oklahoma State, who caught her four calves in 2.1, 2.3. 3.0 and 3.1 seconds for a 10.5 total.
CSC bull rider Miles Englebert also began the rodeo on a high note. He scored 72.5 points on his first bull to rank seventh in the opening go-round last Sunday. Twenty-seven of the 41 entries were thrown from their first bull.
But, Englebert didn’t ride either of his remaining two bulls and missed the finals. None of the contestants rode all four of their bulls, but four stayed aboard three of them until the eight-second whistle sounded and seven others rode two. The champion was Dylon Swearingen of Panola College in Texas. He scored 82, 79 and 76 points for a 237 total.
Chadron State’s fourth CNFR qualifier, Kyle Bloomquist, was disappointed with his experience in Casper. He scored just 61.5 and 63 points on his first two barebacks and received a no score on his third bronc. Looking on the bright side, he won the championship in the Central Rocky Mountain Region this past year and has another year of eligibility.
The national bareback championship was won by another CRMR cowboy, Chance Ames of Sheridan College. Ames chalked up 319 points (79.5, 75.5, 81.5, 82.5) during his four trips out of the chute at the finals. He finished third in the regional standings in 2018-19 with 1,100 points, 145 fewer than Bloomquist.