Rodeo Team competes in final rodeo of the season and qualifies two for the college national finals

May 16, 2016

The Mesalands Community College Rodeo Team recently competed in their final rodeo of the season at New Mexico State University (NMSU) in Las Cruces, NM. The Men’s Team brought home the tie down roping championship title and qualified two student athletes for the 2016 College National Finals Rodeo (CNFR). The Men’s Team ended the rodeo in fourth place with 262 points and the Women’s Team came in fifth place with 76 points.

Chace Valdez of Estancia, NM claimed the tie down roping championship title at the NMSU Rodeo with a time of 30.2. Valdez won the first two go-rounds and the average. He was also fourth in the Men’s All-Around.

“Chace had an incredible year last year. What was really exciting was the fact that Chace had his best five runs all season long, at the last two rodeos,” said Tim Abbott, Intercollegiate Rodeo Coach at Mesalands. “Chace roped better than anyone else at the rodeo, hands down. It was a really good way for him to end the year.”

Fellow teammate Justin Stegall from Morristown, AZ had two solid runs at the rodeo in tie down roping. He won fifth place in the average.

In steer wrestling, Jacob Rounds from Broadalbin, NY won the second go-round of the steer wrestling event.

Team ropers Tyler Stegall of Morristown, AZ (header) and Chance Hunter of Chinle, AZ (heeler) qualified for the short round.

For the Women’s Team, Arianna Assini from Oracle, AZ came in second in the first go-round in the goat tying event. She made a good run on her second goat, until her rope untied about a half a second too soon. She took seventh in the average in goat tying. She was also seventh in the average in breakaway roping with a time of 15.1.

Team ropers Kyle Jurney of Eunice, NM (header) and Wasey Carviso Iyanbito, NM (heeler) clinched their golden ticket to compete at the 2016 CNFR. Jurney and Carviso finished fifth in the region and will be competing with student athletes from Cochise College at the college national finals. Jurney will be competing with Garrett Nulliner and Carviso with Bobby Flores.

“It’s pretty encouraging that our student athletes have been working really hard and everything came together at the end of the year,” Coach Abbott said. “We are also excited to have about 75 to 80 percent of our team returning next year. This is already a good start to next season.”

The 2016 CNFR is June 12-18, 2016 at the Casper Events Center in Casper, WY.