MERIDIAN – Northwest sent 12 students to compete in the East Mississippi college rodeo this past weekend in Meridian for the Rangers' first event of the spring.

Northwest had a great start on Thursday evening, with Alex Lockhart winning the bareback round with a 71-point ride. John Mark Johnson, however, got bucked off his horse before the 8-second timer.

"I'm just happy to keep moving up the standings toward nationals in Wyoming," Lockhart said. "I have goals set and I just need to keep working hard and go out to the college rodeos and achieve them."

Will Tindall had an excellent start at roping his calf, finishing up the evening in fourth place with a time of 10.5 seconds. Garner Holcomb had bad luck not catching his steer in steer wrestling and more bad luck in team roping with a no time.

On the women's side, Friday slack started off slow with Bethney Bowie running a 17.59 in barrels followed by Kelsey Phillips at a 15.87 second time in barrels. That just wasn't fast enough for a short-go qualification.

Lockhart did not cover his horse during the Friday night performance, getting bucked off before the 8-second buzzer, while Kelsey Phillips was just shy of the short-go with a 3.6 second catch in the breakaway roping.

Tindall fell to 11th place after the performance with the last participant, which made him just shy of the championship round.

All riders got bucked off Saturday evening and did not cover their animals.

Northwest will return to action March 30-April 1 at Arkansas-Monticello.