HATTIESBURG – Northwest kicked off the 2017-18 rodeo season this past weekend by traveling south to Pearl River Community College's inaugural NIRA event.

Thursday was the team's busiest night, with Allen Morse up in all three events he competed in, Brennan Tomlinson up in team roping and Kelby Wall up in bull riding.

In his first ever collegiate competition, Morse missed his calf in calf roping trying to throw the rope a little too soon and also missed his steer in steer wrestling when he got off his horse too soon.

In team roping, Morse and his partner Madison Steele (Three Rivers CC) received a no-time. Tomlinson and his partner, Max Dever-Boaz (UWA), the son of former Northwest softball coach, Carie Dever-Boaz, had an excellent time that would have brought them back to the short-go of a 8.4, but Tomlinson broke the barrier which added 10 seconds to their time.

Thursday evening wrapped up with Wall in bull riding, finishing with a no score after getting bucked off around the 2-second mark.

Friday morning slack had three female team members competing in barrels and breakaway roping. Bethney Bowie received a no time, Neff finished barrels with a clean run of 17.10 seconds and Macy McElyea came in strong with a 16.24 second run but hit the third barrel and that added 5 seconds to her time.

Shawn Davis and J.R. Dukes competed in bull riding Friday night, but both got bucked off too early to receive a score. Dukes got a little too far back off his rope and bucked off around the 5-second mark.

Saturday night was looking a little more hopeful, but the team suffered several injuries. Dukes was slammed into the chutes when he was bucked off, later evaluated by trainers for a concussion and released, while Wall was stepped on after being bucked off and released by paramedics on site.

"We hope to see more short-go qualifiers and placers in the top three next week," head coach Shelli Benton said. "The team is new and fresh to the college rodeo scene, which is a little different than high school."

Northwest heads to the Missouri Valley College Rodeo in Marshall, Mo., this upcoming week.