Several members of the Chadron State College rodeo team got the spring season off to a promising start at Gillette College last weekend.  CSC had nine contestants in the finals on Sunday. 

The CSC men finished third in the team standings with 330 points, their highest total in the first six rodeos in 2023-24 aside from the 520 points they earned last fall while winning the team title at Sheridan College,
"We had a pretty good weekend," Coach Lane Day said. "We were hoping to do a little better in the finals, but overall things went pretty well. We'll should be competitive this spring." 

Chadron State's highest placing individual was sophomore Bridget Romey of Hot Springs.  She placed third among the 85 barrel racers.  She was sixth in the first go-round in 14.43 seconds, moved up to third in the finals with a 14.34 run and was third overall.

Grant Turek of St. Paul, Neb., led the CSC cowboys.  By placing in both tie down and team roping, he was third in the rodeo's all-around cowboy standings.

Turek placed fourth in tie down roping. He caught and tied his first calf in 9.9 seconds, good for second in the long go-round, then was fifth in the finals in 12.8 seconds and was fourth overall.

Turek joined with Jake Chasek of Mitchell to tie for second and third in the first go-round of team roping in 7.2 seconds. They were fifth in 8.3 seconds on their second run Sunday and were fifth in the final standings.

There were 132 team ropers at the rodeo. 

Pepper Rhyne of Craig, Colo., also caught both calves in tie down roping. His times of 12.0 and 14.8 seconds put him in seventh place overall, one notch shy of earning team points. 

 In addition, Cinch Kiger of Overton, Neb., got off to a good start in bareback riding, earning 72 points to share second and third place in the opening go-round.  But his second bronc didn't buck as hard and Kiger earned just 64 points, putting him in sixth place overall.  

Also, Parker Johnston of Maywood was among the 10 finalists in steer wrestling, where he finished seventh in 9.5 and 10.5 seconds.  

Two CSC cowgirls, Rylee Naprstek of Gothenburg and Ashlyn Henderson of Hyannis, made the finals of breakaway roping after catching their first calves in 3.0 and 3.1 seconds, respectively, but neither of them connected on her second runs on Sunday. 

Eastern Wyoming College at Torrington will host this weekend's rodeo in the Central Rocky Mountain Region.

Watt named RMAC Summit Award Winner

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- The Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference announced Mason Watt as the recipient of the 2024 Summit Award for wrestling on ??. Watt earned the honor as having the top GPA on the team that was deemed the RMAC Champion. Individuals had to participate in 20% of the conference dual schedule. 

A graduate student from Broomfield, Colorado, Watt maintains a 3.33 GPA in Business Administration. Watt finished the year with a 18-6 record as CSC's heavyweight. He finished his career with a record of 74-28 and was a national tournament qualifier a year ago. 

The RMAC Summit Award is presented to the student-athlete with the highest cumulative GPA that is also competing at the site of the finals for their sport's championship. For sports that do not have a RMAC Championship event, the regular-season winner will produce the Summit Award winner. All GPAs are based on a straight-grading scale to ensure consistency among nominees. All ties are broken by the total number of credit hours completed through the most recently concluded semester.