SENATOBIA – The regular season came to a close for the Northwest Mississippi Community College rodeo team at the Ranger Rodeo on Saturday night at Lawrence 'Bud' Young Arena, with the Rangers picking up good marks both in the rodeo and in the regional standings, earning three spots at the College National Finals Rodeo in June while also seeing several individuals do well in the rodeo itself.
Both the men's and the women's teams finished with top four places, as the men took third with 390 team points, just ten off the University of West Alabama, and the women had one of their best finishes of the year with 135 team points, putting them just five behind Missouri State University – West Plains in fourth place. The men were the top finishing two-year program, while the women were the second overall finishers at that level.
Headlining the end of the rodeo were the Ozark Region champions and CNFR qualifiers, and while the Rangers didn't pick up any champions, they did have three names put their bid in for the biggest show in college rodeo.
Will Collier qualified for a third time in steer wrestling, sophomore Dakota Smith picked up the nod in bull riding for the second time, and for the first time in 13 years, the Rangers will be sending a female contestant with freshman Reagen Chance qualifying in barrel racing.
Smith was the only Ranger who wasn't going into the weekend still needing to earn a spot. Despite not being able to cover his first bull on Friday night, the sophomore was already qualified for the CNFR with 625 points in the rodeos leading up to the Ranger Rodeo.
It will be his second trip to Casper, and he is going with plenty of experience after winning the third round with an 83.5 and finishing in a tie for eighth place in the nation.
"I'm ready to go up there and do my job," Smith said. "I still wanted to win the region, but it works out how it works out."
Lummus added that after last years' experience and knowing the quality that will be brought to Casper, it will be tough, but in a way easier to plan for.
"Man, those are bucking bulls, and that's what they do, but they have all had plenty of outs, so you can make a game plan and try to go win. I think Dakota will do good and I look forward to him doing better this year than he did last year."
Joining him as a returner is Collier, who is making his third trip to Casper and has high hopes after he went into the CNFR Short Go as the top call back. His road to Casper wasn't as easy this time around, coming into the final rodeo in fourth place, needing 40 points to at least finish in a tie for the third and final spot.
"It feels great," the third-year Ranger said. "I'm just glad to make it. It's kind of been a rough year this year compared to the last two. I really had to work my way there and got it pulled off here at the last rodeo. I didn't know I was going to make it until I ran my last steer, and I pulled it off, so I'm excited."
Collier was one of the first out on Saturday night after a 6.1 put him in seventh place after the long go, and he set the tone in the short go, throwing his steer in 4.7 seconds, which was the second fastest time in the round, moving him into third in the average and giving him more than enough to bump former NWCC steer wrestler Christian Cagle, who now competes for Murray State University, out of the third spot.
"I've always gone by a saying that goes 'if you draw a bad one you place on them, if you draw a good one you win on them', and that's what you do," Collier said.
After finishing just one clean run away from taking home a national title and with it being his final run at the college level after deciding to go pro after this year, Collier said the bar is set for what he is capable of.
"This year, I know what I'm fully capable of. Last year, I learned a lot. I made some mistakes, but I learned from them, and I got a shot now, so I just have to go out and do my job," he said.
The final representative for the Rangers also didn't have an easy road and will be making her first appearance at the CNFR. Chance was a long shot heading into the weekend, needing to make up 115 points just to have a chance.
"She battled right here at the end," Lummus said. "I think it was really cool that her and Will Collier had to battle to get in to make the finals. Backed them in a corner, they came out fighting, and they won. I really think her horse is going to fit that arena (in Casper). I really think she is going to capitalize there.
After no one in the top five in the Ozark standings made it back to the short go, the door was open for her to make a move.
Chance put down a blistering ride of 13.97 in her first ride before bringing the home crowd to their feet with a 13.70 in her short go to pick up a tie in the round and move into second in the average, garnering 135 total points on the weekend and moving into a tie for second with Madison Murphy from West Alabama in the process.
What made the run in the finals even more impressive was that disaster nearly struck around the second barrel.
"Tonight the reign slipped over going into the third, and I knew I could trust her going into the third," she said of her horse. "I said, please do your job and stay under me, and she did. We are a perfect match. The horse has blessed me with everything, and she is my angel. She's goofy, but she pulls through."
Chance will be the first barrel racer and the first female contestant at the CNFR for Northwest since Kindyl Scruggs made it in 2013. She is also just the third to make it in barrel racing, joining Randa Hancock, and only the fourth female ever to make it back, with Merrie Carol Martin being the only other qualifier as a female.
"It feels awesome," Chance said. "It feels awesome. God has put me through so many trials this year, and it's what I've worked for, and I've prayed about, and He blessed me with it, and I'm so grateful."
The year started on a high note with top ten finishes in the first three rodeos of the year, but Chance wasn't able to pick up points in the spring until the final two rodeos of the year, and she said it was a time when she had to pull back and look at the bigger picture.
"I think that God was teaching me a lesson that it's always his plan and that I needed to trust him through it, and I needed to trust my horse and our ability to still be good. I needed to trust Him and put Him first instead of rodeo, stay humble, and support my friends. My friends got a lot of wins while I wasn't. I got to have a lot of fun all year and do what I love, and we didn't do bad. She was sound, I was safe, and just knew if we kept trying, it would work out if it was meant to be, and it was."
The Rangers had plenty of other success at the rodeo, led off by a pair that made it back to the short go along with Collier in steer wrestling. Hank Burgess closed out his collegiate career with a bang, sweeping the long go, short go, and the average on the way to a 180-point weekend. He put down a 4.1 in his first run before pairing it with a 4.4 in his second run, and in the process finished in fifth in the Ozark Region after a tough year.
"Hank has had a lot of really bad luck in college rodeo," Lummus said. "He's an athlete in his third year that should have made the Finals every year but just has had notoriously bad luck but always comes out on the other side a winner. He made probably the two best runs I've seen him make in steer wrestling, and I think this one meant more to him because it was the home rodeo, and it was his last one. Can't say enough about him."
Trey Weekley also made it back to the short go, finishing in seventh in the first round with a 5.4 on his first steer, but he failed to catch on his second and finished without any points, taking eighth in the rodeo.
Weekley didn't leave the rodeo with nothing, picking up a third-place finish in team roping along with his partner, Austin Brooks from West Alabama. The duo had the second fastest time of the long go, catching their steer in 6.4, and had the second fastest time of the short go, but a five-second penalty for only catching one leg pushed them back to fourth with a 12.4.
Leo Williams and Eli Herman also picked up some points, finishing in fifth in the average with a pair of consistent runs of 11.4 in the long go and 11.2 in the short go. Both times, they only caught one leg, but they were one of only six teams to catch in the short go to leapfrog five teams in the process.
The three qualifiers for the Rangers will all be back in action at the CNFR in Casper beginning on June 14th through the 19th for the opening rounds, with the finals scheduled for June 20th. The work now is focused on what is coming for all three of them.
"I think a clean slate is great," Chance said. "I will be practicing in those small pens to be prepared to go out and win it all."
For the returners, Lummus said it's all about building on what they learned from the last trip and over the past season.
"Will is a gamer, and I think he has a little something left on the table, a little something to prove after last year, coming back high call and losing the national championship, he's hungry. Dakota is going to work on some stuff the next handful of weeks leading up to the CNFR, but he wins. He's really loose, never really seems like he gets in a bind, and made the short round at the Finals last year, and I'm excited to see what he does."
All events will be held at the Ford Wyoming Center. For more information, you can visit nwccrangers.com or follow along with Northwest's social media accounts.
