The Eastern New Mexico rodeo team placed in seventh place on the women’s side and tenth place on the men’s side to wrap up their 2018-19 season this last weekend at the Tarleton State Rodeo.

The Greyhounds finished with 15 athletes ranked inside the top 30 in the Southwest Region in their respective events following the conclusion of the Southwest Region Collegiate Rodeo circuit. Eastern New Mexico was particularly well represented in the breakaway roping event in which six Greyhounds finished the season ranked in the top 30 of the event despite competing against at least 147 ropers in each rodeo throughout the season.

Sophomore Catherine Hisel finished up a solid 2018-19 campaign in the breakaway roping by qualifying for yet another short go this last weekend in Stephenville, Texas following a seventh place finish in the long round, but did not place in the short go or in the average. Hisel finished the year ranked fifth in the region with a total of 230 points, just 150 points shy of placing in the top three for the year, which would have qualified her for the College National Finals Rodeo.

Hisel along with a strong core of breakaway ropers led the women’s team to a 12th place finish in the Southwest Region with 342.00 total team points for the year.

Freshman Kaitlyn Doughty split seventh place in the long round this last weekend in Stephenville, Texas and then put together a time good enough for fourth place in the short go to finish fourth in the average. Fellow freshman Chazlin Lesueur qualified back for Saturday night’s performance after a fifth place finish in the long round, but failed to record a time in the short go and didn’t place in the average.

Doughty’s performance at Tarleton State pushed her up to 18th in the region while Lesueur’s late emergence moved her into 46th place at season’s end. Sophomore Molly Griffin served as a consistent producer all season for head coach Albert Flinn and finished the season ranked 10th in the region, joining Emily Logan (22nd), Kennedy Smith (29th) and Kaden Schulte (20th) as one of four other Greyhounds to finish the year ranked in the region in the breakaway roping.

Freshman Karli Cowie finished off her 2018-19 in the barrel racing with a strong showing at Tarleton State, qualifying for the short go in seventh place, and then moved up to fourth place in the average following a third place finish on Saturday night. Cowie (18th) headlined three barrel racers that ended the year ranked in the region along with Laney Elkins (31st) and Harley-Ann DeLeeuw (36th).

Sophomore Timber Kelly made it back to the short go at Tarleton State in the goat tying event, but did not place in the short go or the average to finish her year one place back of teammate Saige Bell in the regional standings in 17th place. Senior Shannon Jackson also finished the season in the top 25 of the region, placing 22nd.

The Eastern New Mexico men’s team ended up in 16th place in a highly-competitive Southwest Region following the 2018-19 circuit, led by team roping header and calf roper Stran Thompson’s 18th place finish in both the team roping and calf roping following a spectacular finish to the season which included a third place finish in the average at Tarleton State in the calf roping. Thompson finished with the third fastest time in the short go to move up to that third place in the average and will be a reliable building block for the men’s side moving into the 2019-20 season.

Thompson finished just a few spots ahead of classmate Calahan Jeffreys in the calf roping for the year, who finished in 23rd place in the event. Three steer wrestlers in Logan Hyatt (20th), Wesley Gudgell (23rd) and Trey Jackson (36th) all finished the season ranked in the steer wrestling as well. Gudgell also had a successful season as a team heading heeler, finishing in 32nd place in the regional standings for the season.

Eastern New Mexico will now look to improve over the summer break and will come back in the fall of 2019 with a more seasoned team on both the men’s and women’s side looking to jump back into the mix at the top of the Southwest Region.