CSC cowgirls don’t horse around

To start out its season, Chadron State’s rodeo team swept the arena in breakaway roping, with three Eagles taking first, third and fourth at the Shawn Dubie Memorial Rodeo in Cheyenne, Wyoming.

“We have a good mix of underclassmen and upperclassmen,” Tayle Brink, senior of Reva, South Dakota, said. “The upperclassmen give the underclassmen advice while the underclassmen fuel us upperclassmen’s fire to get better.”

To take the breakaway roping prize, Brianna Williams, senior of Buffalo, South Dakota, took first, being the only roper to mark a less than four second time at 3.9 seconds.

Behind Williams was Brink in third and Sierra Lee, junior of Rhame, North Dakota, in fourth. Brink roped at 4.6 seconds and Lee was marked at 4.7 seconds.

Brink finished well in other events throughout the weekend, taking fourth in barrel racing at 18.23 seconds and 12th in goat tying at 9.5 seconds.

“At this point in my life, most of my skills are muscle memory,” Brink said. “Yes, I work on them every day, but for me, most of my competition is in my mind.”

The horse that Brink ran in the barrels had her knees reconstructed about two years ago, and after this weekend, Brink can tell that her horse is back and feeling the best.

In the barrels, Shailey McAbee and Williams finished sixth and 12th respectively. McAbee was timed at 18.42 seconds while Williams was tenths of seconds behind at 18.76 seconds.

“We’re just wiping the rust off and looking to do really good and the home rodeo,” Head Rodeo Coach Dustin Luper said.

For the men’s, Clancy Clifford, senior of Porcupine, South Dakota, finished fifth with 30 points in bareback riding.

In steer wrestling, Seth Shorb, senior of Hermosa, South Dakota, took eighth, taking down his steer at 8.7 seconds.

Many CSC rodeo student-athletes had strong runs but finished just short of the second go-round.

CSC will host its next competition at the Dawes County Fairgrounds, starting at 7 p.m., Friday.

“It’s a lot of work to host a home rodeo but I think the kids do enjoy it,” Luper said. “They get to protect their home territory. They seem to find a little more triumph and we’ve always done real well at our home rodeo.”