CASPER, WY - What a weekend in Casper for the Laramie County Community College rodeo team as both the men's and women's teams had great group and individual performances scattered throughout the weekend.
The LCCC women's team moved up ahead of Chadron State to third in the Central Rocky Mountain Regions standings with their first rodeo win of the season. Their 355-point week was 35 points better than region leading Gillette College.
For the men's team, their 480-point week was only beaten out by region leading University of Wyoming who tallied 695 points and Chadron State's 555 points. The Golden Eagles are sixth in the region's standings and just 65 points behind Chadron State in the CRMR.
Individually, the Golden Eagles rocketed to a few wins, led by Hanna Mendenhall who finished with 205 points and won the Women's All-Around title with 90 points over Staheli Adams of Gillette.
The freshman from Grace, Idaho finished third in team roping with her partner Gage Davis for 110 points thanks to their 8.8 in the first go and a 10.3 in the short go. Their average of 19.1 also placed them third for a consistent week in the event.
Mendenhall also finished fourth in the average in goat tying. Her 7.1 in the long go paired with an 11.2 in the short go, and despite the long time, keeping a goat tied was half of the battle over the weekend and Mendenhall finished in fourth in the average.
Wacey Day also performed well in goat tying where the Golden Eagles had three make it back to the short go. The senior from Colorado was only .2 seconds back of Haiden Thompson in the long go with a 6.8 and was second in the short go as well with an eight flat. The weekend earned her 150 points in the regional standings. That moved her just behind her sister Riata Day in the region standings, but with 195 points separating her and third, unfortunately she is out of the running for a return trip to the CNFR.
The men's team wasn't going to be left out in terms of champions at the rodeo.
Bohdi Coombs had the best rodeo of his collegiate career by taking home a win in steer wrestling. He was in second after the first day with a 4.7 and then set the fastest time of the rodeo on his second after it had a slow start, putting it down in 4.4 seconds to win the rodeo by a full second ahead of Jacob Wang from the University of Wyoming.
With 170 points on the weekend, the sophomore moved to seventh in the region standings.
There was another good weekend also put down by Tate Miller in bareback where the sophomore was the top rider after the first go. He put down a ride of 76 and added a 70-point ride on his second bronc which tied him for fourth in the round and gave him a tie with Colton Farrow from the University of Wyoming, picking up 120 points on the weekend.
It's a tight race going into the final rodeo of the year as Miller is sandwiched between Cooper Filopek of Gillette College and Eian Smith of Central Wyoming College with only 25 points separating the trio in the battle for the final spot at the CNRF in June.
A few more points were garnered on the men's team in tie down where Treg Thortenson put down the fastest time in the long go with a 9.1. He drew a tough steer in the short go but his 17.5 on the final tie was just fast enough to keep him at sixth in the average.
LCCC also saw a few others make in back in their events, although they didn't finish in the top six of the average. William Warner, Cannon Campbell, Grey Gilbert, and Treg Thortenson finished in the top ten in team roping with Warner bringing in 20 points after the long go.
Makaylee Fischer made it back in goat tying and Warner also made it back in tie down and just missed out on the top six. Rhett Tattrie also rode one of his broncs but failed to stay on his second ride. Ali Vaugh rounded out the Golden Eagles in the long go with a 3.0 just getting her back.
Only one more rodeo in the season for the Golden Eagles as they will close out the season in Laramie at the Laramie River Rendezvous coming up on Friday, April 25th through Sunday the 27th. Performance times and slack times can be found at www.golccc.com. The rodeo's performances will be streamed live on the Cowboy Channel.