EMCC rodeo teams close out fall slate with third-place finishes
MURRAY, Ky. - East Mississippi Community College’s rodeo teams closed out the fall portion of their 2020-21 NIRA Ozark Region schedule by claiming third-place finishes in men’s and women’s competition at the 45th annual Racer Roundup Rodeo hosted by Murray State University this past weekend.
The two-day event concluded Saturday evening.
EMCC’s men totaled 450 team points to finish just 60 points behind team runner-up Tennessee-Martin. In women’s competition, EMCC’s 180 team points were only 25 points away from second-place Arkansas-Monticello. Missouri Valley College captured both the men’s and women’s team titles at Murray State with 890 and 320 points, respectively.
The Lions collected 330 of their total team points in the tie-down roping competition. Former national collegiate tie-down roping champion Marcus Theriot (Poplarville) posted a pair of 8.9-second efforts this past weekend to tie for second-place honors and collect 125 points. EMCC teammates West Smith (Emmet, Ark.) and Cole Curry (Liberty) followed in fourth and fifth place in the same event to earn 120 and 85 points, respectively.
Theriot and Curry also combined to total 120 points between them with a sixth-place overall finish in the team roping competition after posting a first-place time of 5.5 seconds during the opening round.
In the women’s competition, EMCC freshman barrel racer Taycie Matthews (Wynne, Ark.) captured her fourth title of the five-event fall season with winning times of 14.5 and 14.3 seconds to collect the maximum 180 points.
Also for the EMCC women, Blair Bryant (Hatchechubbee, Ala.) equally divided 60 individual points earned in the barrel racing and breakaway roping competitions. Teammates Nikayla Brill (Summerdale, Ala.) and Macayla Womack (Hackett, Ark.) also advanced to Saturday’s championship round in breakaway roping.
Coach Morgan Goodrich’s EMCC rodeo teams are slated to begin the spring portion of the 2020-21 Ozark Region slate by hosting the scheduled three-day (Feb. 18-20) spring opener from the Lauderdale County Agri-Center in Meridian.