Eagles ride tall during home rodeo

The Eagles’ rodeo team kicked off its season over the weekend with two champions and eight in the top six of their events at the CSC home rodeo at Dawes County Fairgrounds. 

CSC senior bull rider Garrett Uptain, of Craig, Colorado, earned 80 points on his final bull, the top score in the event. Combined with the 76 he scored on his first bull of the rodeo, his total was enough to win him his first bull-riding championship.

“I’d seen him the night before,” Uptain said of the bull he drew for the finals.

“I got to watch him (Saturday) night and I kind of knew what he was going to do and everything kind of worked out for me.”

Uptain said he was happy to do well at the home rodeo after having what he called “a bit of a rough summer.” 

Fellow CSC rough-stock rider Kyle Bloomquist, senior of Raymond, Minnesota, also took first place at the home rodeo, though he had to share the bareback championship with Otero College’s Josh Parker, sophomore of Wilkesboro, North Carolina. The two had identical scores of 69 in the first go, followed by 78 in the short go. 

Bloomquist finished his junior year atop the Central Rocky Mountain Region standings in bareback and was 26th at the 2019 College National Finals Rodeo in Casper. 

Rounding out CSC’s top-six rough stock finishers was Miles Englebert, of Burdock, South Dakota. Englebert rode his first bull for a score of 69 but was bucked off in the finals. He was in good company as only teammate Uptain and Casper College’s Kenneth Thomson rode their final bulls. 

CSC placed a pair of steer wrestlers led by Carson Good, of Long Valley, South Dakota, who was second, and Tate Petrak, of Martin, South Dakota, who was fourth. Good had the second-best time of the finals, 4.3 seconds, and caught his first steer of the rodeo in 5.2 seconds to average 9.5. 

Petrak led all bulldoggers heading into the finals with a long-go time of 4.8 seconds, but took 5.7 to catch his steer in the finals, leaving him with an average of 10.5. 

CSC’s other three placers all came from cowgirls, led by barrel racer Brianna Williams, of Buffalo, South Dakota, who took third in barrel racing. Williams’ time of 17.5 seconds was third fastest in the finals

Senior Quincey Segelke, of Douglas, Wyoming, was fifth in goat tying with times of 7.9 and 9.6. Her time of 2.9 seconds in breakaway earned her a trip to the finals where she failed to rope her calf, placing her seventh overall. 

Fellow breakaway roper Rieley Maier, of Bowdle, South Dakota, also failed to score in the short go, but she caught her first calf in 2.7 seconds, leaving her tied for fifth place. The time was tied for the second-fastest of the long-go. 

The team will travel to the Sheridan College Rodeo, in Sheridan, Wyoming, this weekend.