EMCC finishes 3rd in Ozark Region standings ahead of National Finals Rodeo
The EMCC rodeo teams closed out the regular-season portion of their NIRA Ozark Region schedules with a second-place men’s finish and a third-place women’s finish at Northwest Mississippi Community College’s annual Ranger Rodeo. The three-day event concluded Saturday night at the Northwest Multipurpose Arena.
For the year, the EMCC men’s and women’s rodeo teams placed third among the Ozark Region’s final regular-season standings to narrowly miss out on qualifying collectively as teams for next month’s College National Finals Rodeo to be held June 12-18 in Casper, Wyo.
Missouri Valley College claimed both team titles this past weekend in Senatobia, with the MVC men outscoring EMCC, 900-685, and the women finishing ahead of runner-up Pearl River by nearly 200 points (411.66-216.66). The EMCC women totaled 155 team points in their regular-season finale.
With their second-highest team point total of the season, East Mississippi’s men scored 480 of their 685 total team points in the team roping competition at Northwest. The tandem of Laine Moore (Albertville, AL) and Tanner Brown (Florence) claimed their first collegiate title by earning the maximum 360 total points between them with winning runs of 5.0 and 4.3 seconds. Scooba’s Matt Watt, a Kemper Academy product, paired with Southern Arkansas’ Booker McCutchen to place third in team roping with a pair of 5.7-second efforts to collect 120 points apiece for their respective schools.
Brown also picked up 115 points for the Lions with his third-place finish in the tie-down roping event, including tying for first with an opening-round time of 8.5 seconds.
Two other EMCC cowboys advanced to Saturday’s short-go round in tie-down roping. Clay Livengood (Cleveland, NC) earned 40 individual points with a sixth-place finish, while Kota Wilhite (Corinth) did not score.
Gavin Lee (Poplarville) collected 70 total points for EMCC’s team effort with sixth-place finishes in steer wrestling and bareback riding.