Lady Lancers defend home arena

Erick J. Starkey
Posted 3/28/18

The Eastern Wyoming College women’s rodeo team picked up the team title this past weekend at the Lancer Rodeo, while the men’s team snagged a third-place finish.

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Lady Lancers defend home arena

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TORRINGTON – The Eastern Wyoming College women’s rodeo team picked up the team title this past weekend at the Lancer Rodeo, while the men’s team snagged a third-place finish.

“Our women’s team is really starting to come together,” coach Jake Clark said. “We made a big move up to second (in the standings) above University of Wyoming and I’m extremely pleased about that.”

Yoder’s Jacey Thompson put together another solid weekend, taking first in the goal tying. She won the first round, posting a time of 6.6 seconds, and posted another time of 6.8 seconds in the short go to secure the top spot.

Thompson is now atop the Central Rocky Mountain Region standings with 595 points.

Just behind Thompson in the standings is Karissa Rayhill, who took third in the average in goat tying this past weekend with a time of 14.6 seconds on two, including a second-place finish in the short round, clocking a time of 7.0 seconds. Lady Lancer Libby Winchell rounded out the top goat tying athletes for EWC, taking fourth in the first round and sixth in the average.

“Those girls are strong in other events as well, but the goat tying has really been working for them,” Clark said.

Rayhill took her solid weekend into the barrel racing, where she finished sixth in the average after the dust settled at the end of the weekend.

The Lady Lancers ended the weekend with 340 points to capture the top spot in the team race. In the men’s team race, the Lancers piled up 415 points to finish third overall.

Braden Pirrung and Riley Curuchet had a solid rodeo, finishing first on the average, posting a time of 14.5 seconds on two. They won the first round finished in the silver position in the short round. Bryer Wadhams and Trevor Schnaufer snagged a fifth-place finish in the first round.

Wyatt Schuelke secured a fourth-place finish in the steer wrestling average for the Lancers after taking sixth in the first round and laying a qualifying time in the second round. Levi Walter rounded out the Lancers in the short round, qualifying for the final rodeo in tie-down roping.

This past weekend was the lone home rodeo for the Lancers. According to Clark, the event as a whole was a success.

“I was really pleased with how our production went and our crowds,” he said. “We had great attendance, great stock and our team did well.”

The Lancers have three rodeos left this season before the College National Finals Rodeo, starting with a rodeo April 6-8 hosted by Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colo. Casper College and the University of Wyoming round out this season’s rodeos.

The EWC men and women are still vying for spots at the CNFR. If the Lady Lancers can remain in the second slot as a team, they automatically qualify four athletes for the big show. Otherwise, competitors in both the men’s and women’s divisions can qualify by finishing in the top-three in the Central Rocky Mountain Region standings.

“They put themselves right back in the game. It’s that time of the year that you want to stay within the top-three heading into the final rodeo,” Clark said. “There’s 540 points left this year, so you can kind of see where you’re at. I always tell my students to never give up. You tell them to just keep doing what they’re doing.”