That Thing They Call Rodeo

The men’s team of the USU Rodeo Club finished third with a score of 585 points in the annual USU Stampede Rodeo Friday and Saturday [Sept. 25-26, 2009].

Six teams competed in the two-day event at the Cache County fairgrounds. Utah Valley University finished first with 680 points in the team standings, and the College of Southern Idaho came in second with 640.

For the women’s team, USU came in sixth with 170 points, while Weber State University finished first with 375 points.

Freshman John Cody Wadsworth is a four-event cowboy who competes in calf roping, team roping, steer wrestling and bull riding. He finished first in bull riding with 149 points. Wadsworth is ranked third in the season standings in bull riding with 303 total points.

“I was especially pleased with Cody’s work,” said USU head coach Dr. Jeff Hall. “I talked to him a lot about his bull that he was going to get on the first night here and the bull did everything I told him he was going to do, and he made every right move.”

Friday was the qualifying round and the top 10 finishers in each event moved on to the final round Saturday. Utah State had eight participants move on to the second round of action.

In the men’s all-around, Utah State’s Maclain Rue Miles finished second with 280 points. Edward Seth Capell finished fourth for Utah State in the saddle bronc riding with 47 points. Jolene Farnsworth had an outstanding ride as she finished second in the barrel racing with time of 36.19, just 13-tenths of a second shy of the leader. Stephanie Wells also placed for USU in the barrel racing as she finished tied for eighth with a time of 37.15.

The USU team-roping duo of Maclain Miles and Carson Wayne Miles finished third with a time of 26.1.

Three-event cowboy Maclain Miles finished second in the steer wrestling with a time of 12.3.

“He is a good three-event cowboy, Hall said. “He’s placed well at every rodeo that we have gone to and he is consistent.”

USU’s Rodeo Club competes against other club teams and also against university teams. The Aggies are in the Rocky Mountain region of the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association, and event points are pooled into the season totals with the winners from each region competing in nationals.

Hall said he has a great bunch of students that are doing a great job managing their rodeo time with their school time, and expects two of them to go to nationals.

On the season, USU is ranked third in the region with 2,073 points, while Wadsworth is ranked second in the men’s all around standings with 617 points.