LEVELLAND — The South Plains College men's and women's rodeo teams will return to the arena this weekend in Snyder at the Western Texas College Rodeo April 5-7.
The Lady Texans come into the weekend ranked first in the Southwest region with 1,406 team points, nearly 200 points ahead of Tarleton State, who is currently second in the regional standing with 1,209 points. The top two teams in the region advance to the College Finals National Rodeo in Casper, Wyoming.
The Texans have scrapped their way up the leaderboard and currently sit in sixth place with 1,120 points. The Texans are led by sophomore Chet Boren who is currently second in the men's all-around standings with 535 points. Clarendon's Tegan Smith is first in the men's all-around standings with 935 points. The top point getters will advance to the College Finals National Rodeo.
Boren currently sits in ninth in three different events, including tie down roping (200 points), steer wrestling (205 points), and team roping (130 points). Boren is joined in the top 10 in steer wrestling by fellow Texan cowboy Zack Kirkpatrick who currently sits in sixth overall with 220 points, Kirkpatrick is also 13th in team roping with 115 points.
"Chet is a really strong competitor," South Plains head coach Kerry Doster said. "He works extremely hard and is one of the hardest workers you'll ever be around, and it shows in the rodeo arena. When you put that much time and work in and out of the arena it's going to pay off, and he's our team leader on the men's team."
The Lady Texans have proven to be one of the deepest teams in the region as Jenna Dallyn currently sits in second in goat tying with 495 points, and 13th in the region in breakaway roping with 135 points. Alex Odle will look to add to her point total this weekend, currently sitting in third in barrel racing with 330 points. South Plains' Lariat Larner is currently eighth overall in goat tying with 175 points and 14th in breakaway roping with 125 points. Sophomore Avery Gonzales also ranks in the top 15 in goat tying, currently sitting 14th overall with 126 points.
Last time out in Sweetwater:
The Texans ended the weekend with a sixth-place team finish with 185 points, while the Lady Texans finished eighth with 25 points.
Sophomore Chet Boren rode his way to a first-place finish in tie down roping with a long round time of 9.8, followed by a short run of 8.9, finishing with an overall average of 18.7 and 120 points, capturing the event title and currently ranks second in the region in the all-around standings with 535 points. Zack Kirkpatrick would tack on 65 points for the Texans in team roping, paring up with Texas Tech's Kade Cotton. The duo ran an 8.5 in the long round followed by a 7.6 in the finals, finishing with a final average of 16.1.
The Lady Texans placed a pair of cowgirls in Saturday's breakaway roping final round as Ashley Terrell placed fourth and Lariat Larner took seventh overall. Terrell opened with a long round time of 2.3, which she followed up with a 4.4 in the short round, picking up 85 individual points. Larner ran the fourth-fastest time in the long round with a 2.3, but missed in the finals, capping the event with a 14.80 average and earned 25 points for the Lady Texans.
The Lady Texans also placed a pair of cowgirls in Saturday's goat tying finals as Shaylynne Reymore earned a fifth-place overall finish, posting a time of 7.9 in the long round followed by a 7.8 in the finals, tallying 40 individual points on the weekend. Jenna Dallyn, who currently ranks second in the region in goat tying, ran a 7.8 in the long round followed by a 10.5 in the finals, finishing with a final average of 18.3.