MERIDIAN – Caroline Crawford's third place finish in the barrel racing event helped lift the Northwest women's rodeo team to fifth overall at the East Mississippi rodeo in Meridian last weekend.

Crawford's solid weekend began on Friday when she ran a 14.55 second run to land in a tie for fifth place in the long-go. On Saturday night, Crawford followed up with a 14.25 second performance in the short-go to earn a third place average and bring back 115 total points for the Ranger women.

"I had some bad luck last semester but my horse, Harvey, has been working really well for me," Crawford said afterwards. "I just needed him to ride like he should and he won for me this weekend. I am so grateful to have such a great horse like Harvey."

In other events from the weekend, Cody Dowell finished with a 5.6 second catch in Thursday's breakaway roping event and a time of 14.96 in barrel racing, earning her a preliminary second place spot for both events. She was unable to place in the final overall standings for each event, however.

Brothers Brennan and Brandon Tomlinson logged a fifth place finish in team roping on Thursday night with an 11.6 second run but neither placed in the final standings for the event.

During the Friday morning slack, Allison Cratin finished with no result in goat tying and a 17 second time in barrel racing. Jake Brewer roped an eight-second time for team roping but a five second penalty put him out of contention, while Cade Cowan also competed in team roping but didn't place.

"I am happy with how well the Northwest rodeo team is performing this year," coach Shelli Benton said. "I see the national rodeo in our future this June and I hope to take three or four team members this year. After this weekend, we have three athletes that are in the top three of their events for the Ozark Region and that's where we need to be to qualify for nationals."

Although standings have yet to be released after last weekend's event, both men's and women's teams were placed well within the Top 10 of the Ozark Region as of December 13. The Ranger women, who were in ninth at the conclusion of the fall, should move up more after their most recent performance.

Northwest is slated to resume the spring portion of the schedule at Arkansas Monticello from March 12-14.