The UTM cowgirls and boys picked up first and third places finishes, respectively, this past weekend at the 38th Annual Spring College Rodeo at the McWherter Ag Pavillion.

The women’s team victory marks just the third time that they have won their home rodeo and is also the first Ozark Region rodeo win they’ve captured this year.

“I’m proud of the girl’s team. They kept their heads together and got the job done,” head coach John Luthi said.

Freshman Adriene Vought won the average in the breakaway roping with a time of 7.2 seconds in two runs. She finished fourth in the long go with a 3.1 and third in the short go with a 4.1. Team member junior Erica Johnson turned in a third place finish in the average with a 7.5 on two.

In the goat tying contest, junior Nikki Bacon finished first in the average with a time of 14.9 seconds on two ties. She finished second in both the long and short go’s with a 7.4 and 7.5 in each. Sophomore Nicole Todd finshed fourth in the average in the barrel racing event with a total time of 29.4 seconds. She finished first in the long go with a 14.53 and fourth in the short go with a 14.87. Junior Meredith Jones finished fourth in the average with a time of 29.38 seconds.

On the men’s side, the third place finish is not what the top-Ozark Region team was looking for at home.

“We beat ourselves and made some mistakes,” Luthi said. “This is a building deal and we will learn from it. If I was a betting man, I wouldn’t bet on this happening again.”

There were some successes from the men’s team, however.

Sophomore Ty Atchison won the saddle bronc event with an average of 149 on two rides. He picked up a 75 in the long go and a 74 in the short.

In the steer wrestling, sophomore Boyd Quinley finshed second in the long go with a time of 4.9 seconds and came in sixth in the average with a 4.9 on one.

Senior Jeff Feuhring finished third in the bareback riding long go with a score of 72 for his ride which gave him a fourth place finish in the average. Junior Russ Ratowski held on for a 69-point ride in the long go and senior Whit Ashe had a 71-point ride in the short go. In bull riding, freshman Brent Menz was one of only three riders to post a score in the long go with a 74-point round. No one made the 8-second time in the short go, so Menz picked up the win in the average for the Skyhawk cowboys.

In the Ozark Region standings, the Skyhawk cowboys were able to increase their lead over second place Missouri Valley College to 757.5 points with a total of 4,882.5 so far. They are currently sitting in second place in the country behind the College of Southern Idaho.

The women’s team moved up a spot to fifth in the region with a total score of 1,060 points.

Currently, Atchison leads the regional men’s all-around competition with an individual score of 1,565 and Ashe sits in third with 915 points. The pair is also at first and third, respectively, in the saddle bronc event.

Junior Matt Bright is in third overall in the bareback competition with Fuehring, Ashe and Ratowski in fourth, fifth, and sixth places. Menz is in fifth in the bull riding event and Quinley, Atchison and freshman Cody Miller are in third, sixth and 11th place in steer wrestling in the region.

Junior Andrew Trainor and senior Joseph Southern are at eighth and 12th in the team roping header category and junior Jordan Southern sits at 11th in the team roping heeler.

Nationally, Atchison is in fourth place in the all-around and third in the saddle bronc. Ashe is 20th in the all-around and 22nd in the saddle bronc.

Bright is sitting at seventh in the bareback riding with Fuehring in 23rd place. Menz is in 15th place in the country in bull riding and Quinley is tied for 20th place in steer wrestling.

Regionally for the women, Todd is in fourth place in barrel racing with sophomore Marie Kerley, junior Meredith Jones and Johnson sitting in 12th, 14th and 15th places respectively.

In the breakaway, Vought is in fourth place with Johnson in 12th and Ashlee Miller tied for 14th.

Bacon is in fourth place in the Ozark in goat tying with Vought also in the top-20 at 14th place.

There are three rodeos remaining in the Ozark Region before the College National Finals Rodeo. The finals are scheduled for June 11-17 in Casper, Wyo.

The Skyhawk rodeo team will travel to Mississippi State this weekend, Northwest Mississippi Community College next weekend and end out the year at North Arkansas Community College, April 27-29.