April 23, 2012
The Mesalands Community College’s Rodeo Team had another successful rodeo last weekend at the Tri-College rodeo in Crownpoint, NM. The Men’s Team broke their own National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association record of 1,120 points, by earning 1,357.5 points at a single rodeo in Crownpoint. In second place, New Mexico State University’s Men’s Team earned 730 points at the rodeo. The Mesalands Men’s Team took the Team title at Crownpoint and brought home five individual championship titles. The Women’s Team also performed well at the rodeo taking third place with 221 points.
The Men’s Team is leading the nation and the Grand Canyon Region with 8,682.5 points. The Women’s Team is fifth in the nation and second in the region with 3,321.5 points.
“Our Men’s Team is only seven and half points short of setting the all time record for the most points scored in a single season in college rodeo history. I would estimate that there are only 10 or 15 teams that have scored over 1,000 points in the nation and we’ve done it twice this year,” C.J. Aragon, Mesalands Intercollegiate Rodeo Coach said. “Last weekend we won half the events at the rodeo. We won first, second, and third in the Men’s All-Around. So the top three point earners at the rodeo were on our team. These three guys could have won the team title by themselves.”
For the Men’s All-Around title, Chase Massengill from Pojoaque, NM finished in first place with 378 points, Fran Marchand from Omak, WA, took second place with 311.5 points, and Austin Woods, from Newberg, OR, finished the Men’s All-Around in third place with 252 points at the rodeo.
Marchand won the championship title in saddle bronc riding with a score of 77.0. He also took third in bareback riding with a score of 70.0 and finished fifth in bull riding with a score of 66 at the rodeo. Marchand has earned a total of 2,347.50 points this season.
“It’s been a great semester. The first semester I was recovering from an injury and I’m hoping to do a good job at Las Cruces. I’m excited that my uncle and my brother will be there from Washington this weekend,” Marchand said.
Nationally, Marchand is currently second in the nation in the Men’s All-Around, fourth in bull riding, 12th in saddle bronc riding, and 21st in bareback riding. He is leading the region in the Men’s All-Around and in the bull riding event. Marchand is also currently third in the region in saddle bronc riding and fourth in bareback riding. Marchand has a strong chance to compete in three events at the College National Finals Rodeo this summer, which is an unusual task to accomplish.
Massengill won the championship title in steer wrestling at Crownpoint with a time of 5.8 seconds and the Men’s All-Around title, and placed third in tie-down roping with a run of 11.6 seconds. Austin Woods and partner Dillon Archuleta from Las Vegas, NM won the team roping team title with a time of 6.3 seconds. Kit Pettigrew from Ft. Sumner, NM also brought home the championship title in tie-down roping with a time of 10.3 seconds.
Macy Fuller from Clarkston, WA, took fourth place in goat tying at the rodeo with 6.6 seconds. Fuller is currently third in the nation in the Women’s All-Around, fifth in the nation in goat tying, 15th in breakaway roping. She is leading the region in the Women’s All-Around and the goat tying event. She is also second in breakaway roping, eighth in team roping, and ninth in the region in barrel racing.
“It would be really nice in Las Cruces to have a bunch of Mesalands fans down there for the rodeo,” Coach Aragon said. “We are about to make history in college rodeo, so it would be pretty neat to have people from Tucumcari there to witness it.”
The Rodeo Club will be selling Mesalands Stampede t-shirts for the upcoming rodeo for $15 at the Student Services Office.
The Grand Canyon Regional Finals rodeo will take place April 27-28, 2012 at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces, NM.
Other individual standings include:
KC Peterson
4th Place in Bareback Riding
Cody Heffernan
2nd Place in Bull Riding
James Hayes
5th Place in Bull Riding
Ty Nuffer
3rd Place in Saddle Bronc Riding
Christian Stremler
5th Place in Saddle Bronc Riding
Cody Lensman
2nd Place in Steer Wrestling
Tyler McCormick
4th Place in Steer Wrestling
Jordan Minor
4th Place in Tie-Down Roping
Daniel Robertson
7th Place in Tie-Down Roping
Meghan Fewins
5th Place in Breakway Roping
Emily Woolbright
7th Place in Breakaway roping
Kelbey Cheeney
7th Place in Barrel Racing
