SHERIDAN, WY – The Laramie County Community College rodeo team had another strong showing at the Pat Hamilton Memorial Rodeo hosted by Sheridan College over the weekend.
The women's team finished in third place to hold onto their second-place spot in the Central Rocky Mountain Region while the men took sixth, dropping to fourth place in the region standings heading into the Shawn Dubie Memorial Rodeo this weekend in Cheyenne.
"It's important to just get points and (the teams) have done a good job of that," Head Coach Dean Finnerty said. "They seem to sneak in and get a few and it's been really fun to watch them."
Individually, LCCC was paced by an impressive performance from Grey Gilbert who finished the rodeo with points in three events and came within ten points of sharing the all-around title. Grey picked up 130 points in steer wrestling and the rodeo title as well as 60 points in team roping and another 50 in tie down.
"I just knew what I had to do," Gilbert said. "(The season) has kind of been up and down and I finally just settled in and did my job and it worked out."
Gilbert finished with a total time of 11.3 on two head in steer wrestling to claim the title after entering the short go in sixth place. His time of 4.9 was the fastest of the short go and the second fastest in the rodeo and he was the only Golden Eagle to finish in the top six for average.
What made it more impressive is he had to fight to make the short go after his draw nearly got away.
"Our first one we lined up good but the steer kind of ducked it's head and I just missed the left horn and we recovered and tipped her over," Gilbert said. "Our second was really good and we knew it. Me and Rhett had a plan, and everything lined up and made a good head catch and made a practice pen run."
Finnerty added that it's nice when the freshman can put pressure on the older athletes to make the team better.
"It's fun to watch those kids because they have been watching the older kids and improving every week and they had a lot of success this weekend so its fun to see those guys do good too."
Rhett Witt and Coy Flemming both picked up points in the long go but failed to catch their steers in the short go.
Team roping was also good for Gilbert and his partner Rayne Grant as they finished fourth in the short go and the average, with the 60 points for the duo, and Grant's points helping the cause for the women's team.
Tie down was the best event for the Golden Eagle men with Gilberts 50 points the lowest total for the Golden Eagles in the event. Gage Davis finished second in the average with 130 points picked up as his strong season continues and he was followed closely by Cory Bomhoff who finished with 110 points and third in the average.
"It felt really good," Bomhoff said after picking up his first career collegiate points. "It's been a learning experience for sure having it be one long round and a short round and finally after the third weekend it's been able to be a success."
The top performance from the women's team came from Wacey Day in goat tying. The transfer from Northeastern Junior College was sixth going into the short go but her time of 7.7 was tied for the fastest of the round and moved her into a tie for second in the average.
"It felt good," Day added. "I've kind of struggled in the last couple of rodeos so it felt good to finally get some tied this weekend."
The women added more points from Kassidy Dunagan in barrels where her 17.81 was the sixth fastest in the long go.
Jentry Jenkins was also able to snare 80 points for LCCC in breakaway where she put up consistent times of 3.5 on both calves to finish in third in the second go and the average.
"Getting my confidence back going into my sophomore year has been really good this season," Jenkins said. "I knew I just had to go out there and do my best and see how I ended up."
Rough stock for the Golden Eagles also saw good and bad for the weekend for LCCC.
Tate Miller finished in second in the long go but failed to ride out his second bronc in bareback, although he still finished with another 70 points to his name in the standings and continued his streak of picking up points in every rodeo this year.
Dixon Tattrie was tied for sixth going into the short go in saddle bronc but failed to ride his second bronc as well in the short go and finished just outside of the top six in the average. Only five riders were able to stay on their second in what was a tough short go for most riders.
The Golden Eagles did pick up their first points of the season in bull riding. Griffin Koester rode his second bull at the rodeo and finished with 40 points with a score of 68 and was one of seven overall rides over the weekend on bulls.
The Golden Eagles return home this weekend when they host the annual Shawn Dubie Memorial Rodeo at the LCCC Arena on October 6th through the 8th.
"It's going to be fun. It's just like playing in front of your own crowd in basketball or anything else. Everyone gets to come out and see the athletes that we are producing at this college and how well they are doing in our region," Finnerty said.
Information on times, performances and tickets can be found at www.golccc.com and all performance will be streamed on the LCCC Golden Eagle YouTube channel.