CSC entries have bright spots at Casper rodeo

Nate McFadden of Dunning was first and Wyatt Clark of Wellfleet tied for second in bareback riding and Shaylee Hance of Circle, Mont., won the goat tying. In addition, Hance was the rodeo’s all-around cowgirl.

McFadden won the opening go-round of bareback riding with 68 points and placed second in the championship go-round with 73 points. Clark placed fifth in both go-rounds with 66 and 67 points, and his consistency allowed him to wind up second in the averages.

The victory was the first of McFadden’s career.

Freshman Prestyn Novak of Newell, S.D., placed fifth in the steer wrestling averages with 5.5 and 6.2-second runs. He tied for eighth place in the first go-round and was fifth in the second go-round.

Another CSC steer wrestler, senior Jake Kasselder of Ericson, Neb., won the first go-round in 4.2-seconds. But his second steer was difficult to bring down and his time of 15.1 seconds left him out of the top six in the averages.

The CSC men finished third in the team standings at Casper with 275 points, but they fell farther behind the two leaders in the seasonal standings. Gillette College won the men’s title with 545 points and Casper was the runner-up with 400.

Heading into the final rodeo of the season May 1-3 at the University of Wyoming, Casper leads the men’s team standings with 3,505 points, Gillette is second with 3,445 points and CSC is third with 3,280. The top two teams at the conclusion of the season advance to College National Finals Rodeo.

“We’ll have our work cut out for us at the final rodeo, but we’ve still got a chance to qualify for the nationals,” said CSC coach Dustin Luper. “We’ve done well this spring, but need another good rodeo.”

Led by Hance’s victory in goat tying, the Chadron State women’s team finished second at the Casper rodeo with 205 points. Laramie County Community College at Cheyenne was the winner with 220.

Hance tied for second and third in the opening go-round of goat tying in 7.9 seconds and won the finals go-round in 7.3 seconds to win the event.

Hance also won the all-around cowgirl title by reaching the finals in two more events. She shared second through fourth place in the first go-round of breakaway roping in 2.7 seconds and joined with freshman Brandi Cwach of Geddes, S.D., to make the team roping finals. Even though the CSC entries took no times in both events on Sunday, Hance earned enough points to win the all-around honors.

Cwach, who has come on strong this spring, placed third in goat tying after having a pair of 8.4-second runs.

Another CSC cowgirl, Danni Jo Hinman of Hay Springs, was fourth in breakaway roping with 3.2- and 3.6-second times.

Senior Amy Deichert of Spearfish placed sixth in both go-rounds of barrel racing in 15.88 and 15.99 seconds and was seventh in the averages. Deichert also was a goat tying finalist.

—Con Marshall