CHADRON, NE – The rodeo season officially kicked off for the Central Rocky Mountain Region and the Laramie County Community College men's and women's teams saw a mixed bag of results at the Chadron State University rodeo.

"I thought they competed well, and everyone was going for the win and that's always a good thing when they are trying to do that," Head Coach Dean Finnerty said.

Neither team had much success when it came to the points teams. The LCCC women finished in sixth place with 78.3 points and the men's team was in eighth after the opening rodeo, capturing just 65 points.

The brightest point for the LCCC women came from freshman Hanna Mendenhall who made it back in both barrel racing and breakaway.

"The first day I will say I was very nervous, but it was fun to get the first one under me and I did have some success," Mendenhall said adding that the biggest adjustment was not having a lot of faces she new in the stands.

In breakaway, a 3.7 got her back to the short go and was the fourth fastest of the go, but after missing her calf in the short go, Mendenhall had to settle for a tie for sixth, but still brought home 23.3 points in the event.

Mendenhall was the last rider to make it back in barrel racing with an 18.01 drawing three in the tenth spot, but she came back with a 17.52 in the short go and finished in fifth in the average. That gave her a total of 73.3 points on the weekend and put her early on as a freshman to watch.

"She came back in two events and did good, getting points in both events and competed really, really well," Finnerty added.

Only one other Golden Eagle made it back in the short go and that was Kassidy Dunagan. The junior is coming off her first CNFR appearance and was tied for sixth after the long go. She finished with a 15.4 on two and tied for ninth in the average.

On the men's side, four made it back to the short go although some points were left on the table during the short go.

In bareback riding, Tate Miller continued his success going back to last spring in the CRMR and finished in seventh, picking up 20 points in the long go and putting up points on both rides.

"If (Tate) just stay's on track then he will be good. Last year I think he finished in the top five as a freshman and did some good things, and if he can get back on track and keep doing that he'll have a heck of a year," Finnerty said.

Gilbert Gray added another 25 points in tie down after he made it back to the short go with the fourth fastest time of the long go. He unfortunately couldn't catch on his second calf and was left out of the top six for additional points.

Gage Davis picked up another 10 points for the Golden Eagles in steer wrestling. Davis was 9.5 on his first for sixth place, and an 8.0 on his second steer was back of the short go, but only seven caught theirs, so he was able to maintain sixth in the average for 20 total points for the team score.

"They did well," Finnerty said. "And Gage Hillis drew some tough bulls but he dang sure was giving it some try. Those guys are looking good and doing well."

LCCC is off this weekend as the CRMR started the season a week earlier, so there is an extra off day included. Next weekend they will be back on the road when they travel to Riverton for the Rustler Roundup hosted by Central Wyoming College.

Information on the next rodeo can be found at www.golccc.com.