THREE TRAPPER COWBOYS HEAD TO CNFR

BY SETH ROMSA TRIBUNE SPORTS WRITER
Courtesy of the Powell Tribune

A strong spring season saw the Northwest College Trapper men's rodeo team finish third overall in the Big Sky Region, resulting in three cowboys heading to the College National Finals Rodeo in Casper, while the women's program finished sixth in the region.

With the conclusion of the spring season, cowboys and cowgirls from around the nation will flock to Casper next week to take part in the CNFR starting on Sunday, June 9, and concluding on Saturday, June 15.

The three participants heading to the Ford Wyoming Center will be a pair of bull riders in Chris Staley and Zane Young who finished third and fourth in the final standings, while Jayson Carl will head down as a heeler in the team roping.

"They're out practicing at their respective homes," coach Del Nose said. "All this practicing is keeping them healthy … we'll see what happens. Bull riding is always open … Carl could come along well in the team roping."

Bulls, broncs and breakaway will feature on Sunday, while slack performances will take place early in the week before the first night performance will be at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, June 11.  

SPRING SEASON
The spring season kicked off with a pair of rodeos in Bozeman on April 11-14, with the Trappers battling in the Montana State University rodeo.

"We had some good rodeos," Nose said. "Ever since we came together after COVID it feels like we are taking baby steps, but we're getting better."

Leading the way in the rodeo was the duo of Gunner Plenty and Carl, who finished second as a header/heeler duo in team roping.

Staley finished fifth in the bull riding, and Ava Malone finished sixth in breakaway roping for the women.

Overall the men's team finished fourth with 240 points and the women were fifth with 40 points.

In the second rodeo, Dylan Young won the saddle bronc riding and Staley won the bull riding while finishing fourth in bareback riding, finishing second in the all-around to lead the Trappers.

Weston LaPierre finished ninth in steer wrestling and Carl finished 10th in tie-down roping.

Northwest finished third in the men's standings with 400 points, with the women's team not posting a score.

After those first two rodeos the Trappers made the trip to Miles City, taking part in the Miles Community College rodeos on April 18-21.

Staley had another strong showing in the first rodeo, winning the bull riding and placing second in bareback to take third overall in the all-around.

Carl finished third in the tie-down roping and Young finished third in the saddle bronc, while the team of Kaydin Small and Coltyn LaRue finished fourth as a team in the team roping.

Diego Prieto finished third and Zane Young finished fourth in bull riding.

Nicole Groeneveld finished second for the Trapper women in barrel racing.

Northwest posted a strong team score, finishing second in the men's standings with 515 points while the women were fifth with 140 points.

"We were second at a couple of rodeos — with a rookie team it was pretty good," Nose said.

In a more difficult second Miles rodeo the Trappers' highest placement came from Staley in bareback riding as he tied for third.

The team of Small and LaRue finished fifth in team roping, while Dylan Young finished fifth in saddle bronc.

Overall the Trapper men finished fifth with 120 points while the women did not post a score.

In the final rodeo of the season the Trappers made the trip to Missoula, taking part in the University of Montana rodeo.

The duo of Plenty and Carl won team roping, while LaPierre finished fifth in steer wrestling.

Northwest finished second in the men's standings with 415 points while the women did not post a score.

Overall for the season with the fall and spring scores combined the Trapper men finished third as a team with 3,306 points.

"We ended up third so with that many freshmen we did OK," Nose said.

That was well behind region winners MSU that finished with 8,252.5 points and second place University of Montana Western which had 5,510.5 points.

The women's team finished sixth for the season with 306.5 points, as MSU also won the women's standings with 3,640.16 points.