TRAPPER RODEO GAINING STEAM

BY CARSON FIELD TRIBUNE SPORTS WRITER
Courtesy of the Powell Tribune
powelltribune.mycapture.com

After a disappointing third-place finish at the Trapper Rodeo in Cody a couple of weeks ago, the Northwest College rodeo team has turned a corner.

The Trapper men finished in first place at a rodeo hosted at the University of Montana, Western in Dillon, Montana, and followed that up with a second-place finish a week later at Dawson Community College.

In Dillon, NWC had the top four finishers in the bull riding competition: Austin Herrera, Bo Howell, Sterling Rogers and Bruin Bradshaw. Bradshaw also finished third in bareback riding and tied for second in the all-around competition.

Other top-five finishers included Cody Weeks in saddle bronc and Paden Woolstenhulme in steer wrestling. Overall, the Trappers earned 610 points, far ahead of second-place Montana State, which finished with 455.

This performance exceeded head coach Del Nose's high expectations.

"I said before that if we can get second place, I'd be happy," Nose said. "I was doing my stuff and looked at the results and went, 'Holy buckets!' I was really pleased."

Much of the success at the event can be traced to NWC's riders being more prepared this time around.

"Some of our guys got healthy who were crippled up or sore," Nose said. "They went to Dillon and were more healthy and rode better."

At the DCC rodeo, Northwest finished just 20 points behind Montana State, who finished first with 610 points.

The Trappers once again had four of the top five finishers in bull riding, with Bradshaw winning the event. Bradshaw finished tied for first in the all-around with 290 points, and Rogers finished fifth overall in the all-around with 190.

NWC has one event left on the fall schedule: the Montana State University Northern Rodeo on Oct. 2-3. If the Trappers can succeed there, Nose is confident in the team's momentum heading into the spring semester.

"It's amazing; they're ready," Nose said. "They want to get to the finals of the CNFR. We'll keep practicing hard and keep going and get the next rodeo under our belt and then take a little spell off before we come back in January, then we'll start all over again.

"They're focused," he said. "They really are."