By Con Marshall
With freshmen leading the way, the Chadron State College rodeo team wrapped up the Central Rocky Mountain Region’s fall schedule in a big way last weekend at Lamar College in southern Colorado.
A Chadron State contestant won an event, two more were runners-up and others placed third and fifth.
Freshman Mejrusa Rustemovic of Kiowa, Colo., was the barrel racing winner. She and her gray gelding, Player, were fourth in the first go-round in 18.59 seconds, then had the fastest time of 18.24 seconds while winning the championship go-round on Sunday. There were 99 barrel racers at Lamar.
Two more freshmen, Wyatt Reichenburg of Harrisburg and Jeff Forsen of Mullen, were the runners-up in their events.
Reichenberg was fifth in the first go-round of steer wrestling in 6.1 seconds and had the fastest time of 5.1 seconds in the finals to place second overall. The two-time Nebraska State High School Rodeo steer wrestling champion also finished third in that event the previous weekend at the Laramie County Community College rodeo in Cheyenne.
Forsen scored 71 points while riding the first bull of his college career in the opening go-round at Lamar. He did not make the eight-second whistle in the finals, but still placed second overall because only one contestant rode both of his bulls.
Chadron State’s third place finisher last weekend was bareback rider Cinch Kiger, a junior from Overton, Neb. He tied for fifth and sixth with a 76-point ride on his first bronc and was second in the finals with 79 points. Kiger has ridden all 10 of his barebacks at the five rodeos this fall and has placed or tied for third at each of the last three. He’s also third in the regional standings.
Mary Gibson of Havre, Mont., who joined the CSC rodeo team this fall, became the college’s first goat tying placewinner this season. She was fifth in both go-rounds and also fifth overall at Lamar in 8.3 and 8.7 seconds. As a senior in 2022, she was Montana State High School Rodeo’s goat tying champion.
The Lamar rodeo wasn’t among the best for CSC senior Brooke McCulley, but she still earned some team points by having a fast time in barrel racing.
After building a big lead in the region in breakaway roping by placing first or second at three rodeos, McCully did not place in that event last weekend. However, she tied for second in the first round of the barrels in 18.43 seconds, before knocking over a barrel in the finals.
McCully holds a 235-point lead in the regional breakaway standing entering the five-month break before the spring schedule begins. Another CSC senior, Jake Chasek of Mitchell, is second in the tie down roping standings at the end of the fall season. He placed among the top four three times this fall.
The CSC women are third and the men are fifth in the team standings entering the break. Five more rodeos will take place in the spring.