College Rodeo Champions Crowned in Wyoming

Posted Sunday, June 21, 2009

CASPER, Wyo.--- Rodeo in college, just like other sports is a proving ground and stepping stone for athletes to move into the ranks of the professionals.

A perfect example of that played out in the team roping at the Casper Events Center. In 2005, Kollin VonAhn won the team roping heeling title here. Now he is ranked second in the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA) world standings.

On Saturday night at the Casper Events Center, it was Kollin’s young brother Ryan that was on the awards stage. He competed here with Trevor Connolly. They are both attending Southeastern Oklahoma State University. They won the title with a total time of 30.1 seconds.

“It feels good to win,” Ryan VonAhn said. “I’m following in my brother’s footsteps and hope that someday we can both be roping at the National Finals (Rodeo).”

It was R.C. Landingham, a freshman at Blue Mountain Community College that earned the bareback riding title by just one point. Landingham, who lives in Pendleton, Ore., had a total of 316 points to take the title from his friend and fellow Oregonian Steven Peebles. Peebles, from Redmond is attending Walla Walla Community College and is leading the bareback riding rookie standings in the PRCA.

There was a tie for the men’s all-around. Jake Wright from Western Texas College and Wyatt Smith from the University of Montana – Western, each had 300 points. Wright competed in saddle bronc riding and bull riding. Smith won the steer wrestling championship and also earned points in saddle bronc riding. Wright also helped his team earn the men’s championship.

Nikki Steffes from the University of Wyoming won her second all-around title here. Her first one was in 2007. She had 395 points and also helped carry the women’s team to the championship.

National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association Champions

Bareback Riding, R.C. Landingham, Blue Mountain Community College, 316 points

Tie-Down Roping, Cody Prescott, Southern Arkansas University, 50.9 seconds

Breakaway Roping, Jessica Picchietti, Central Wyoming College, 15.3 seconds

Saddle Bronc Riding, Bryan Martinat, Western Texas College, 307 points

Steer Wrestling, Wyatt Smith, University of Montana – Western, 19.1.

Goat Tying, Sarah Mulholland, University of Wyoming, 27.1 seconds.

Team Roping, Ryan VonAhn /Trevor Connolly, Southeastern Oklahoma State University, 30.1

Barrel Racing, Rachel Tiedeman, South Dakota State University, 57.38 seconds

Bull Riding, Chad German, Hill College, 292.5 points

Men’s All-Around (tie), Jake Wright, Western Texas College, and

Wyatt Smith, University of Montana – Western 300 points

Women’s All-Around, Nikki Steffes, University of Wyoming, 395 points

Men’s Team, Western Texas College, 820 points

Women’s Team, University of Wyoming, 690 points

CASPER, Wyo.---The following are final winners from the 61st College National Finals Rodeo, Saturday, June 20, 2009 courtesy of the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association. Complete results are available at www.cnfr.com. Over-all winners are total on four.

Bareback Riding: (final round) 1, R.C. Landingham, Blue Mountain Community College, 83.5 points. 2, Steven Peebles, Walla Walla Community College, 82.5. 3, Luke Creasy, Western Texas College, 81. 4, Caleb Bennett, Weber State University, 80. (total on four) 1, Landingham, 316 points. 2, Peebles, 315. 3, Danny Webb, Feather River College, 309. 4, Dusty Gracia, Southwestern Oklahoma State University, 305.5. 5, Jared Smith, Western Texas College, 303. 6, Luke Creasy, Western Texas College, 301. 7, Caleb Bennett, Weber State University, 295.5. 8, Bradley Dennison, Vernon College, 290.5.

Tie Down Roping: (final round) 1, Mitch McAdow, Northeastern Junior College, 13.4 seconds. 2, Roger Nonella, Cal Poly State University – San Luis Obispo, 14.1. 3, Cody Prescott, Southern Arkansas University, 14.9. 4, Johnny Salvo, New Mexico State University, 17.7. (total on three) 1, Prescott, 50.9. 2, McAdow, 54.8. 3, Salvo, 59.7. 4, Ben Mayworth, Troy University, 67.4. 5, Casey Good, Northwest College, 78.8. (on three) 6, Nonella, 32.0. 7, Rob Webb, Walla Walla Community College, 37.5. 8, Cole Dorenkamp, Lamar Community College, 38.5.

Breakaway Roping: (final round) 1, Kassi Venturacci, University of Nevada – Las Vegas, 2.4 seconds. 2, Cally Cummings, Southwestern Oklahoma State University, 2.9. 3, Shannon Jones, Cal Poly State University – San Luis Obispo, 3.0. 4, Jessica Picchietti, Central Wyoming College, 3.1. (total on three) 1, Central Wyoming College, 15.3. 2, Michele Lyons, Walla Walla Community College, 15.5. 3, Venturacci, 19.2. 4 (tie), Courtney Stephens, Sam Houston State University, and Shannon Jones, Cal Poly State University – San Luis Obispo, 22.0. 6, Chelsea Hoff, University of Nevada – Las Vegas, 24.7. 7, Cally Cummings, Southwestern Oklahoma State University, 31.4. 8, Katie Perkins, McNeese State University, 32.7.

Saddle Bronc Riding: (final round) 1, Alexander Wright, College of Southern Idaho, 77 points. 2, Jake Wright, Western Texas College, 76.5. 3(tie), Bryan Martinat, Western Texas College; Cort Scheer, Panhandle State University; and Chuck Schmidt, Black Hills State University, 75.5. (total on three) 1, Martinat, 307. 2, Jake Wright, 301. 3, Scheer, 295. 4, Schmidt, 294. 5, Blaze Hamaker, Central Wyoming College, 286.5. 6, Alexander Wright, 282.5. 7, Aaron Lide, Texas A&M University, 280.5. 8, Wyatt Smith, University of Montana –Western, 278.5.

Steer Wrestling: (final round) 1, Wyatt Smith, University of Montana – Western, 5.1 seconds. 2, Morgan Grant, Sam Houston State University, 6.0. 3, Jake Mitchell, West Texas A & M University, 6.5. 4, Cole Dorenkamp, Lamar Community College, 6.8. (total on three) 1. Smith, 19.1. 2, Mitchell, 21.5. 3, Grant, 24.1. 4, Brent Sutton, South Dakota State University, 25.1. 5, Cole Dorenkamp, Lamar Community College, 26.9. 6, Justin Simon, Central Arizona College, 34.6. 7, Kyle Irwin, Western Oklahoma State University, 41.0. 8 (tie), Casey Harmon, Vernon College and Colt Stearns, Northwest Oklahoma State University, 15.8.

Goat Tying: (final round) 1, Sarah Mulholand, University of Wyoming, 6.8 seconds. 2, Dana Weiser, South Plains University, 7.0. 3, Mackenzie Pratt, Weber State University, 7.4. 4, Nikki Steffes, University of Wyoming, 7.5. (total on four) 1, Mulholland, 27.1. 2, Steffes, 27.5. 3, Weiser, 29.4. 4, Pratt, 30.0. 5, Chancy Harrington, Panhandle State University, 30.2. 6, Manda Mellergaard, Central Washington University, 31.2. 7, Sarah Guenzler, Montana State University, 33.3. 8, Toya Vogt, Northwestern Oklahoma State University, 35.5.

Team Roping: (final round) 1, O.J. Huxtable, Casper College and Riley Warren, Central Wyoming College, 6.3 seconds. 2, Rob Webb, Walla Walla Community College, 6.4. 3, Ryan VonAhn and Trevor Connolly, Southeastern Oklahoma State University, 7.7. 4, T.J. and Conner Atkin, Dixie State College of Utah, 11.5. (total on three) 1, VonAhn and Connolly, 30.1. 2, Huxtable and Warren, Central Wyoming College, 32.8. 3, Zach Merritt and Levi Tyan, Nebraska College of Technical Agriculture, 36.2. 4, Atkin and Atkin, 40.1. 5, Rob Webb, Walla Walla Community College, and Ted Walker, University of Idaho, 40.9. (on three) 6, Ryan Routier, Dickinson State University, and Taylor Williams, Black Hills State University, 24.2. 7, Joe Macoubrie, Northwestern Oklahoma State University, and Daniel Reed, Southeastern Oklahoma State University, 29.1. 8, Jesy and Rudy Austin, Wharton County Community College, 30.7.

Barrel Racing: (final round) 1(tie), Haley Nelson, South Plains College, and Rachael Tiedeman, South Dakota State University, 14.15 seconds. 3, Jordan Muncy, Panhandle State University, 14.22. 4, Cassie Ward, Vernon College, 14.23. (total on four) 1, Tiedeman, 57.38. 2, Jaymie Leach, University of Nevada—Las Vegas, 57.45. 3, Jordan Muncy, Panhandle State University, 57.69. 4, Haley Nelson, South Plains College, 57.70. 5, Ward, 57.74. 6, Jordan Bassett, New Mexico State University, 58.11. 7, Michelle Robinson, Gillette College, 58.15. 8, Whitney Stahl, Blue Mountain Community College, 58.19.

Bull Riding: (final round – three qualified rides) 1, Andrew Coughlin, South Dakota State University,84 points. 2, Justin Thomas, Laramie County Community College, 75.5. 3, Chad German, Hill College, 74.5. (total on four – one qualified) 1, German, 292.5. 2, Coughlin 223. 3, Thomas, 215. 4, Tag Elliott, College of Southern Idaho, 208. (on two) 5, Jeffrey Askey, University of Tennessee – Martin, 165. 6, Stetson Rasberry, Texas Tech University, 160.5. 7, Bryce Brown, Cal Poly State University – San Luis Obispo, 155.5. 8, Jose Griego, New Mexico Highlands University, 139.5.

Men’s All-Around: 1 (tie), Jake Wright, Western Texas College, and Wyatt Smith, University of Montana—Western, 300 points. 3, Rob Webb, Walla Walla Community College, 230. 4, Cole Dorenkamp, Lamar Community College, 165.

Women’s All-Around: 1, Nikki Steffes, University of Wyoming, 395. 2, Kassi Veturacci, University of Nevada—Las Vegas, 350. 3, Sarah Mulholland, University of Wyoming, 295. 4, Dana Weiser, South Plains College, 275.

Men’s Team: 1, Western Texas College, 820 points. 2, Southeastern Oklahoma State University, 610. 3 (tie), Central Wyoming College, and Walla Walla Community College, 550.

Women’s Team: 1, University, of Wyoming, 690 points. 2, University of Nevada – Las Vegas, 580. 3, South Plains University, 525. 4, Cal Poly State University – San Luis Obispo, 302.