POPLARVILLE – The Northwest Mississippi Community College rodeo team wrapped up one of their best performances of the year with the men finishing in third to match their best finish of the season, only coming in behind the University of West Alabama and Missouri Valley College who are currently leading the region standings.
The team picked up 355 points, just coming in 10 ahead of Southern Arkansas University and finishing 40 points ahead of East Mississippi Community College.
The best of the weekend came from Dakota Smith who all but locked up his spot at the College National Final Rodeo in Casper, Wyoming in June after finishing with an 85 point ride in the long go to pick up the round win and was one of three who made it back to the short go after completing a ride.
Smith came back in the short go with a ride of 76 on his second bull which was the lowest of the round but still was enough for him to capture the average title with his 161 just coming in ahead of Malachi Anderson who finished with a 159.5.
The weekend closed with Smith in second place in the region and holding a comfortable cushion over the fourth-place spot with a 360 point edge, and trailing the top spot by 155 points.
Tate Williams has a stellar rodeo in calf roping, finishing in second in the average after his two runs to pick up 140 total points on the weekend. His first run of 12.4 seconds was good for fourth place, and he came in with the fastest time in the short go, catching and tying his calf in 10.4 seconds for an average of 22.8 on two head.
That helped to bump him up to fifth in the region and he now sits just 45 points out of the third-place position and a spot in the CNFR.
Steer wrestling was also a good event for the Rangers with two making it back to the short go and finishing in the top four in the average.
Will Collier just made it back to the short go with a 7.9 on his first run just getting him in as the tenth place, but the CNFR veteran put down the fastest time in the rodeo with a 4.2 in his second go to move him into second in the average with a time of 12.1 on two.
The weekend saw a total of 110 points picked up for the third-year competitor which moved him back to fourth in the standings and just 40 points out of the third spot with three rodeos to go.
Brayden Mahon also had a strong day, coming back in a tie for fifth with Sawyer Bell of Southern Arkansas University with a run of 6.3 on his first steer and catching his second with a time of 7.3 seconds. His average of 13.6 was good for fourth to net 30 more points and his 75 points on the weekend keeps him in the second spot in the Ozark Region standings.
Two other Rangers made it back to the short go with the team roping pair of Tucker Douglas and Cole McCorkle finishing in fourth place going into the short go with a 7.8 for 30 points each but they failed to catch their steer in the second run and came up one position shy of points in the average.
It was still a good enough week to move Douglas into the seventh spot in the Ozark standings with 220 points, putting him just 165 points out of the third position for headers while McCorkle moved up to sixth for heelers, also just 165 points out.
Northwest will be back on the road when they travel to the University of Tennessee – Martin from April 9-11 for their eighth rodeo of the season, with only three total competitions remaining.
Keep up with the Northwest rodeo team by visiting nwccrangers.com or by following along on Ranger social media accounts.
