The Chadron State College women had a strong showing at this year’s College National Finals Rodeo as senior Amy Tierney finished 3rd in goat-tying and junior Shelby Winchell 10th in the same event. Their efforts in the week-long competition landed CSC 7th in the women’s team standing.
Tierney, a 2009 graduate of Hot Springs High School, received an automatic bid to the CNFR as the student representative to the regional rodeo board, but proved she deserved to be in the field with 4 consistent rounds.
Her times in the first and fourth go-rounds were 6.5 seconds, she had a 6.6-second clocking in the second go-round and a 6.4 mark in the third go, giving her a total time of 26.0 seconds.
Winchell was even better heading into Saturday’s final or short go-round…tying for 1st in the 1st and 3rd go-rounds and posting times of 6.2, 6.7 and 6.2…but was hit by bad luck in the finals.
The 3rd-place finisher last year as a sophomore at Eastern Wyoming College, the Scottsbluff native fell getting off her horse and finished with a time of 10.5.
The Central Rocky Mountain Region dominated goat-tying wit 5 competitors in the top 10. Jordan Thurston-Miller of Gillette College took the crown for the 2nd time while Hayden Segelke of Northeastern (Colo) Junior College was the runner-up, and Shaylee Hance of Central Wyoming end 4th.
From the area, but not the rodeo region, Hallie Fulton of Black Hills State was 9th…one spot ahead of CSC’s Winchell.
Jordan Thurston-Miller, whose family ranches near Lance Creek in northern Niobrara County, Wyo., was the national champion as a freshman in 2010 and the runner-up in 2011.
CSC can lay some claim to her because her parents and maternal grandmother are all Chadron State graduates while her paternal grandparents live in Hyannis.
Her title and an 11th place finish by teammate Kristi Steffes pushed Gillette to 4th in the women’s team standings.
Hayden Segelke added All-Around honors at the CNFR to the regional title she won this year…placing 3rd in barrel racing as well as 2nd in goat-tying. She edged breakaway roping champion Kimberlyn Fehringer of Idaho State for the title 465-445, but Idaho State took the team title.
The Central Rocky Mountain Region also added a 2nd from Kaycee Nelson of the University of Wyoming in breakaway roping. Timmi Ward of the College of Southern Idaho was the barrel racing champion
On the men’s side, the Eastern Wyoming College team roping duo of Derek Weinreis and Levi O’Keeffe placed 2nd behind a duo from the Lone Star Conference…Billy Brown of Tarleton State and Logan Medlin of Eastern New Mexico.
O’Keeffe and Weinreis put up their fastest time in the short go-round…6.1 seconds…but Brown and Medlin posted the 2nd-fastest time of the entire week…5.7…and pulled away to win with a 4-round total of 25.3 to the EWC duo’s 26.2. The 3rd place team was more than 12-1/2 seconds behind them.
EWC’s Troy Wilcox was one of 4 cowboys to take a no-score in the short go-round of steer wrestling, leaving him 12th but helping the Lancers finish 4th in the team standings…4 spots ahead of Gillette.
Gillette had two men place in bareback riding with Casey Breuer 4th and Devin Reilly 7th, while Travis Nelson was 11th in saddle broncs.
Also from the Central Rocky Mountain Region, Tyler Schnaufer of Wyoming was 9th in tiedown roping and Zeke Thurston of Sheridan was 10th in saddle broncs.
College of South Idaho was the only school with 2 national champions…Spencer Wright in saddle broncs and Orin Larson in bareback riding…but still finished 2nd in the team race behind Panhandle (Ok) State, which had no champions.
The other men’s winners were bull rider Timothy Bingham of Hill College (Tx) and Corey Rogers of Nevada-Las Vegas in steer wrestling. Tarleton State’s Billy Brown…half of the team roping winners…was the All-Around Cowboy.