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Kiley Morgan
BY KILEY MORGAN / Multimedia Journalist
The College National Finals Rodeo (CNFR) in Casper, Wyoming concluded Saturday, June 15, and both the men and women’s team representing Tarleton State University brought home titles. Several athletes brought home individual titles.
The men’s team were crowned National Champions, and the women’s team Reserve National Champions.
The men’s team included: Gus Gaillard, saddle bronc riding; Ira Dickinson, saddle bronc riding; Bailey Small, saddle bronc riding; Roedy Farrell, bareback riding; Landris White, steer wrestling and Mason Spain, bull riding.
Gus Gaillard was named National Champion Saddle Bronc Rider. He rode for 78.5 points in all three go-rounds and received a score of 83.5 points in the short round to seal the championship in the saddle bronc riding.
His teammate, Ira Dickinson was hot on his trail during the entire CNFR. Dickinson finished in the Reserve Champion spot, scoring 73.5 points in the first go-round, 76 points in the second, 84.5 in the third and 83.5 in the short-go on Saturday night.
Bailey Small was 73.5 in the first go-round, a no score on his second and a 74.5 on his third. He was 148 points on two and did not make it back to Saturday night’s short-go.
Tarleton bareback rider, Roedy Farrell, finished 4th overall in his event. He had three rides in the high 70s and had an 81.5-point ride in the short-go that put him at 313 points on four rides.
Landris White finished 5th overall in the steer wrestling standings. He had three solid runs during the long-go of 5.5, 6.6 and 6.3 seconds that had him sitting good in the standings before Saturday night. Short round Saturday brought White his fastest run of the week, placing third in the round with a 4.5-second run.
The bulls in Casper got the best of some of the riders, but Mason Spain stuck it out and finished in the No. 10 spot overall. He did not have the rides that he was looking for in the long-go, but his one 72.5-point ride was good enough to send him to the short-go. Unfortunately, Spain did not ride for eight seconds in the short-go and ended up with a no score.
The Women’s Reserve National Champion Team consisted of four Tarleton athletes: Jordan Driver, barrel racing; Hadley Tidwell, barrel racing; Rayme Jones, goat tying and Tori Brower, goat tying.
Photo source: Tarleton Rodeo
The Women's Reserve National Champion Team with their plaques. From left to right: Jim Dewey Brown, Tori Brower, Rayme Jones, Jordan Driver, Hadley Tidwell, Coach Mark Eakin, Kelley Eakin, and Dr. Diana Ortega-Feerick.
Jordan Driver finished in the No. 3 spot in the overall standings for the barrel race. She was tied with her teammate, Hadley Tidwell, with 14.39 on her first run. Driver had a 14.15-second run in the second go-round and her fastest time of the week in the third go-round with a 13.84-second run and was 14.15 on short-go Saturday.
Hadley Tidwell, finished further down in the standings in 9th place, but was solid in all three long-go rounds and in the short-round. Her first three runs were: 14.97 seconds, 14.15 seconds and 13.95 seconds. She finished 7th in the short-round with a 14.26-second run to finish up the finals.
In the goat tying, Rayme Jones was on fire in the first three rounds, winning the first two rounds and placing third in the third. She split the win in round one, tying in 6.1 seconds and came back with another 6.1-second run to win round two of the CNFR. In the third go-round she finished in the No. 3 spot with a 6.5-second run. Unfortunately, in the Short-Go, Jones did not have her speedy-fast run in the sixes like the days before. Her 8.5-second run in the last and final round of the CNFR put her in the No. 4 spot overall in the goat tying.
Tori Brower, also a goat tyer for Tarleton, ended up No. 15 in the overall goat tying standings. She had a great first run of 6.3 seconds but was in the 7s her next two go-rounds. She finished with a total of 21.3 seconds on three runs.
Several of our National Champion Tarleton Texans will be back again this fall to compete in the fall semester rodeos. The first rodeo of the season will be the Eastern New Mexico University rodeo, Sept. 19-21 in Portales, New Mexico.
Dust your boots off, Texan Rodeo fans, we will have some reigning national champions to cheer on in September.
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