SENATOBIA – Behind great weekends from sophomores Kindyl Scruggs and Lauren Sanders, the Northwest women's rodeo team captured first place in the annual Ranger Rodeo event held at the NWCC Multipurpose Arena April 4-6. 

"It was a good event this weekend and the attendance was great," fourth-year head coach Bruce Lee said. "Thursday night was affected by the weather and we had a smaller crowd, but Friday and Saturday was standing room only."

The overall women's title for Northwest is the first in nearly two decades as Northwest finished with 275 points to beat out Troy University (210), Missouri Valley (170), UT-Martin (130), EMCC (130), Southern Arkansas (50) and Murray State (30).

Scruggs continued her dominance in the Ozark Region in barrel racing and has now won first in four of nine rodeos in the event. Her combined time of 28.39 seconds beat out second place finisher Kelley Wigington's time of 28.97 for UT-Martin.

Sanders, who came in fourth place in women's all-around with 105 points, finished fourth in barrels with a time of 29.15 and placed sixth in goat tying with a time of 16.7 seconds.

The men's team had a rough go around in front of the home crowd and didn't place in bull riding, but occupy the second and fourth place spots in the Ozark Region rankings after nine rodeos, respectively.  

Northwest closes out spring competition April 11-13 at UT-Martin.

"We're ready to go to Martin, Tenn., this weekend and are hoping to wrap up having two kids in the CNFR in Wyoming this summer," Lee said.

The CNFR is set for June 9-15 in Casper, Wyo., with the top three finishers in each event qualifying.