CHEYENNE, WY – The Laramie County Community College rodeo team picked up a pair of individual winners at the annual Shawn Dubie Memorial Rodeo, paced by Griffin Koester in bull riding and Dane Pokorny in steer wrestling, to help the men's team to a third-place finish while the women finished in fourth.
"The athletes did really well," Interim Head Rodeo Coach Dean Finerty said. "Had some greet short round performances and it was fun to watch."
The weekend was a shining one for the LCCC rough stock participants all around. Koester's win in bulls came thanks to a 79-point ride on his second bull of the rodeo, just outshining Dixon Tattrie who won the average with a ride of 76 points on his first bull. Tattrie was one of just two riders who stayed on the first bull of the rodeo and no riders were able to ride both of their draws.
Tattrie's 120 points moved him to 4th in the Central Rocky Mountain Region standings and Koester now has rides in each of the last two rodeos to stay in a tie for 5th place with 100 total points.
Tattrie carried his success in bulls into saddle bronc where he added another 100 points to his region tally thanks to two rides of 76 to finish third in the long go and fifth in the short go. That placed him third overall in the average and he moved to fifth in the CRMR standings.
"(Dixon) is a team player across the board and he rides really well and things are going good for him, and it's been fun to watch him have success," Finnerty said.
Tate Miller also used a strong weekend in bareback to climb in the standings, moving to 4th place with 100 points over the weekend. Miller finished tied for second in the long go with a 73-point ride and came back in the short go with a 70-point ride to finish third in the average.
Pokorny was the best out of three Golden Eagles to make in back in steer wrestling after his 4.4 in the first go put him in third place coming back. He was joined by Tucker Ravenscroft and Rhett Witt in the short go and while Ravenscroft finished 4th in the go, Pokorny's run of 4.7 was good for third again and when paired with his 4.4 from the first go, it was enough to earn a tie for the title at 9.1 for the weekend.
"Honestly, my horse was good. Generally, he was good in the box and gave me a fast, good run every time and it just worked out really good," Pokorny said.
"The funny part is, Dane's been riding an older horse and Payton Feyder encouraged him to ride a horse that he's had a little more success on this weekend, and it paid off," Finnerty added.
It was the first points of the year for Pokorny in the standings and moves him to 8th in the region and only 55 points out of third place in the most competitive field on the men's side in the CRMR standings where 24 athletes have put up points through four rodeos.
"It drives you a lot," Pokorny said of the competition he sees every weekend. "There are some good competitors here, and the bulldoggers especially. It was a fast rodeo. It doesn't get much faster in the dogging. A good set of steers and some good guys to compete with."
Also picking up a good week was Reece Wadhams and his partner Rio Nutter from the University of Wyoming in team roping. The team finished the long go in fourth place and a 10.2 in the short go was good enough to put them third in the average.
The duo shot to the top of the region's team roping standings thanks to a 100-point weekend.
"It's a big deal," Wadhams said of the early lead this year. "We are a second half team and knowing that we are doing alright now is really relieving knowing that we just have to keep it going."
Witt wrapped up the points for the men's team in tie down where he was the 10th man back in the long go. He took advantage of the chance and his 10.5 in the short go was the 4th best of the round and put him 4th in the average as well for 60 points. It also moved him to third in the region standings as an individual.
For the women's team, two athletes picked up nearly all the points for LCCC.
Wacey Day made it back to the short go and took second in the round with a time of 6.6 which was tied for the second fastest of the rodeo. She finished fourth in the average to pick up 80 points and is in 5th place in the CRMR standings, one spot behind her sister who is competing for Wyoming.
"She came from the tenth spot in the short round and came out third," Finnerty explained of how impressive Day was in the short go. "To be second fastest in the short round is awesome and she did a really nice job."
Rayne Grant added another 75 team points for the Golden Eagles in Breakaway where she had a 2.9 in the long go to go with a 2.8 in the short go. That gave her fourth place in the average and helped the women's team keep pace in a very competitive team race.
The 75 point weekend moved Grant back to fourth in the overall region standings and were her first points since the opening rodeo in Chadron.
"I try and just take each rodeo one at a time and try and stay in those points each weekend to stay in the points towards the end of the season when it counts a bit more," Grant said.
The Golden Eagle women are in fourth place in the region standings and only 95 points out of second with only one rodeo remaining in the fall season.
The men's team also finds themselves in fourth place in the overall standings, only 426.67 points out of second and 496.67 points out of the top spot held by Casper College.
"The women have been riding tough and getting some good consistent points. The men have been doing the same thing just not quite as heavy," Finnerty said. "They've been keeping us in the running and that's all I can ask."
The Golden Eagles will be back in action starting on Friday when they travel to Lamar, Colorado for the Antelope Stampede hosted by Lamar Community College. Action begins on Friday afternoon at 1:00 pm with the first slack session and another slack session will be held Saturday morning at 8:00 am.
Performances are scheduled for 7:00 pm on Friday and 2:00 pm on Saturday with the final performance at 10:00 am on Sunday morning.