CASPER, WY – The Laramie County Community College rodeo team ended their season at the Laramie River Rendezvous and saw a pair of Golden Eagles punch their tickets to the College National Finals Rodeo in June.
Rayne Grant finished the year with enough points to take the Reserve All-Around position on the women's side and paired that with taking home the title for Barrel Racing while she was at it. The two titles are the first time that a women's competitor for the Golden Eagles had accomplished either feat in the current records.
Grant will be competing in barrel racing and breakaway roping while in Casper at the CNFR which begins on June 9th with Bulls, Broncs, and Breakaway.
Joining Grant for the week will be Reece Wadhams who is making his second trip to Casper as a team roper. The heeler who is paired with Rio Nutter will be looking to build on a trip in 2023 that saw he and his partner finish 17th in the nation out of 45 teams.
Neither Grant nor Wadhams did much to earn points at the final rodeo, with Grant just taking a few more in goat tying where she finished 4th in the average and had the fourth fastest time of the short go.
Wadhams failed to make the short go after he and Nutter didn't catch their first steer clean.
Other individuals did shine, including another two goat tyers for LCCC. Makaylee Fischer made it back-to-back rodeos with top six finishes in goat tying, taking third in both the long and short goes and in the average for 120-point weekend which is her best since joining the team.
Kaitlynn Idler also made it back to the short go and placed fifth in both the round and the average and LCCC held down three of the top six spots. Wacey Day also made it back but finished in ninth in the average.
Both Day and Grant made it back in barrel racing and each took sixth in one go and Day finished in sixth for the rodeo, which was helped by Grant catching a pair of barrels in her second run.
On the men's side, Bull Riding was the event of the weekend where Dixon Tattrie was the only rider to cover two bulls, taking home the rodeo title and 180 points. Tattrie rode his first bull to a 76 and topped it with a 77 on his second. Tattrie finished just 10 points out of a spot in the CNFR qualifiers despite finishing the year 16th in the country in bull riding.
Gage Hillis also rode his first bull and finished second in the round and the average for his best weekend since the start of the season.
Dane Pokorny was on the bubble in steer wrestling and he was edged out after the long go when he failed to catch his steer.
Both Grey Gilbert and Tucker Ravenscroft did make the short go and while Gilbert missed his second steer, Ravenscroft came back from tied for sixth to place third in the average after throwing his steer in 5.2 seconds in the short go.
Ravenscroft was left just on the outside looking in and will finish in fifth place in the Central Rocky Mountain Region standings.
Only one other event saw LCCC team members in the short go and that was bareback riding where Tate Miller had his best ride of the rodeo, and the fourth best of the short go, when he rode to a 77 on his second bronc. He rode both over the weekend and finished in fifth in the average to get another 50 points.
Miller is one to watch next season in the rough stock where he finished with points in nine of the ten rodeos the Golden Eagles competed in this year.
The season wraps up with LCCC taking third as a team on the women's side and fourth as a team on the men's side. It was one of the best seasons in LCCC history for the women's team, who finished in the top three at eight of ten rodeos.
The duo of Grant and Wadhams will be prepping for a trip to Casper with the College National Finals Rodeo set to go from June 9th through the 15th. Both competitors will get three go's to qualify for the finals, with Grant beginning her time on Sunday the 9th and Wadhams getting his first shot on Monday the 10th.
More information will be released on this as the event gets closer. Follow along at www.golccc.com.