GILLETTE, WY – The Laramie County Community College rodeo team saw several individuals put down strong performances in their opening rodeo of the spring season hosted by Gillette College.
The women's team was able to move closer to the University of Wyoming in the team standings with a second-place finish that was paced by Rayne Grant and Wacey Day, scoring 240 points and moving the Golden Eagles to within just 40 points of the second spot in the team standings.
"I feel like we are going to have a really good spring," Assistant Coach Vicki Segelke said and while she feels the momentum is on their side, the competition ahead of the Golden Eagles is tough. "Gillette has a strong group of girls and they are deep, Wyoming is a lot like us and they have so much talent and it's just hoping we pick the right one to be on the team that weekend because they are all so talented."
As for the men, they finished in sixth place with 205 team points from the duo of Dixon Tattrie and Dane Pokorny. They still sit in fourth place in the region.
Individually, Grant was the lone winner of an event, picking up a win in the short go and the average for barrel racing after finishing with the fastest time of the rodeo in her second run. After a 14.50 in the long go, Grant drew the second position in the short go and had a blistering time of 4.12 which was 3 hundredths of a second faster than the best time posted in the long go.
The run moved Grant into the top spot in the Central Rocky Mountain Region standings, giving her a 95-point cushion on second place as she looks to be the first woman to win the Central Rocky Mountain Region in barrel racing in school history.
Day also had a good weekend in goat tying, where she earned 120 points thanks to a second-place finish in the average with a time of 16.0 seconds on two runs. She was fifth in the long go and second in the short go with times of 7.7 and 8.3 respectively.
"I feel there are definitely things I still need to work but I feel like it was a good start and I'm ready to keep the ball rolling," Day said. "I feel like I could do a lot better than I did last fall but there are a lot of ups and downs in rodeo so I do what I can."
Segelke was proud of both and the way the performed to kick off the spring.
"Wacey stayed super consistent in the goat tying and Rayne came back in the short go on her barrel horse and had the fastest time of the rodeo. He worked outstanding and she rode him perfectly," she said.
On the men's side, Dane Pokorny was just two tenths of a second off of the top spot in the average on his two runs after going into the short go with the second fastest time of the rodeo. He paired his 4.8 in the long go with an 8.8 in the short go for a 13.6 overall to pick up 130 points.
"Joe did pretty good for me horse wise," Pokorny said, and added that going late in the short go helped him know what he could get away with. "I drew kind of a low headed booger, and I knew he was going to be tough so it just played into my favor that I didn't have to be a four. Being able to slow down and even if I got drug around for eight seconds, I still got a lot of points and ended up doing good."
The win bumped him into third place in the CRMR standings, moving 60 points ahead of fellow LCCC bulldogger Tucker Ravenscroft and just 15 points behind John Jensen of the University of Wyoming.
"Last year going into Gillette last year I was first in the bulldogging, and I thought as a freshman I was on top of the world and the last four rodeos kicked my butt. This year I'm staying level minded and go one steer at a time. You can't look at the standings," Pokorny said.
Cannon Campbell also finished with points in the rodeo for the first time this season, picking up 35 after finishing in a tie for third with a 5.4 in the long go. He missed his steer in the short go and finished in ninth in the average. Bohdi Coombs also made it back with a 7.5 in his first attempt but also missed his steer in the short go.
Dixon Tattrie couldn't stay on his bull, or on his re-ride but he made up for it in saddle bronc with a solid performance. He tied for fifth in the short go with a 64 on his first ride and rode to a 69 in his short go to finish in fourth place with a total score of 133 in the average. He missed out on the top spot by just nine points.
The weekend saw him jumped in the third spot by Thayne Elshere of Gillette College who moved to 11.67 points ahead of the sophomore Golden Eagle and still has an 83.33-point lead on Easton West from Casper College in fifth place. Tattrie has scored points in each of the last five rodeos.
LCCC also saw a good weekend in bareback riding from both of its entries. Tanner Drueke completed both of his rides to finish tied for fifth in the average thanks to a 69 in the long go and a 67 in the short go. Tate Miller wasn't able to stay on during his first ride, but in the short go he put down a 70 which was the third best score of the round, picking up 40 points.
Drueke completed two rides at the same rodeo for the first time this season and feels he is in a good spot.
"It felt good to get on two decent horses. Could have used a couple better horses but as for myself I thought I rode pretty good and lately here I've gotten all healed up and riding probably the best I every had," he said.
Miller stayed in fourth place in the standings for the year, moving to within 85 points of the third spot and Drueke moved to the top ten in the CRMR standings with 105 points on the season.
Grey Gilbert rounded out the Golden Eagles who picked up points on the weekend with a good week in tie down roping. The freshman had a time of 10.3 seconds in the long go which was third in the round, and he followed it up with a 12.9 in the short go to finish sixth in both the short go and the average.
The 60-point weekend moved Gilbert up six spots in the standings to a tied with Cory Bomhoff for 16th and only 135 points out of the third-place spot in the region.
One other LCCC rider made it back to the short go. Reece Wadhams and his partner Rio Nutter of the University of Wyoming finished with a 7.8 in the long go, just a tenth of a second out of the top six spots. The duo failed to catch their second steer and finished ninth in the average.
The Golden Eagles are back in action this weekend when they head to Torrington, Wyoming to the EWC Lancer Rodeo on March 22nd through the 24th.
"We always do good at Torrington so I'm excited for that one," Segelke said.
More information on the rodeo can be found at www.golccc.com.