CHEYENNE, WY – Between slack in the morning and the first performance in the evening, Tuesday was a full day for the Laramie County Community College rodeo team as five athletes competed seven times through the day.
Four athletes for the Golden Eagles were in action during the slack rounds. Chance Derner took to the floor first in tie down followed by Bernard Girard in steer wrestling and Griffin Koester in bulls with Reece Wadhams rounding out the LCCC competitors in team roping.
It was Wadhams who led the way for the Golden Eagles in team roping with a big bounce back after he and his partner Rio Nutter from the University of Wyoming came up just short in their opening go.
“I didn’t want to be too hard on myself which I kind of was beating myself up yesterday but after today it felt a lot better,” Wadhams said. “I showed myself I could do it again and hopefully I can do it in the third round again.”
A time of 6.6 in the second go puts them in 22nd place and only 15 teams have been able to rope both heads so far. If the chips fall right, the pair could make their way to Saturday’s finals.
“It just feels good to have some momentum coming back,” Wadhams said. “We put a time down and kind of put ourselves in a position to hopefully go be faster this third round and have a good spot in the short round.”
“They made a great run today,” Head Coach Seth Glause added. “Just have to come out on Thursday and see how it all shakes out. It’s rodeo, anything can happen so we’ll see how it goes from here.”
Tie down didn’t go great for Derner with a tough draw on his calf that just never got within reach of his loop.
“You just have to draw the right ones and that wasn’t it,” Glause said of the calf. “He missed the barrier to the right and stepped off a bit and that’s just a tough go.”
Derner is still in 37th place in the standings and will be looking for a rebound Friday night in the final performance of the rodeo.
“He’s just got to take a good start and get it on one and try to win a go around,” Glause added.
Steer wrestling wasn’t much better for Girard who ended up going over the top of his steer after his horse got too tight on the run. It would be the second no time of the rodeo for the senior and left him slightly dazed after having the wind knocked out of him.
Koester put a good ride down but was knocked off balance after three seconds on “Truckers Speed” but it was his best attempt for the pair of bulls he had drawn to that point.
Performance Round
The Golden Eagles had three go in the Tuesday performance round with Girard leading off with his final go in steer wrestling.
Even just suiting up was a valiant effort for the LCCC senior after he entered the go with more than a few bruises, and it unfortunately didn’t result in the chance to make a try, as the calf pulled up short, but the senior represented the school with pride that his coach appreciated.
“Bernie has been a leader on our team for four years,” Glause said. “He comes out here and faces adversity and shows up and that’s what it’s all about. I’m proud that he’s always given that extra mile for our team and he’s gonna have some big shoes to fill.”
Both Dixon Tattrie and Koester got on their third bulls of the rodeo in quick succession with Tattrie drawing “Whipped Cream” and Koester facing off with “Mudbug” for their final guaranteed rides.
Neither was able to stay on their bull during the performance but despite the end result, Glause said this was a great learning experience for them going into next year.
“They are both freshmen coming into the CNFR and it’s a different game. They came out and tried their butts off every time. It didn’t work out and now it’s something to build on for next year.”
The Golden Eagles will have a day off on Wednesday with no one competing before they see Wadhams return on Thursday night and Payton Feyder will join Derner on Friday night for the final performance and Glause said it is a good chance to regroup for the rounds.
“It’s good to have a little break,” he said. “They all can get focused and come perform and try to win.”
The performances on Thursday and Friday will be streamed on ESPN+.