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HERALD/REVIEW
FORT HUACHUCA — Cochise College edged New Mexico Highlands University to finish second in the men’s portion of the MWR/Sierra Vista Riding Club Cochise College No. 2 Rodeo.
On a Sunday where several participants wore pink shirts at Wren Arena in an effort to raise awareness for breast cancer, titled “Tough Enough to Wear Pink.”
The idea was put into motion during last year’s spring rodeo, in part due to Cochise College head coach Kelly Slover.
 Suzanne Cronn-Herald/Review Jordan Butterfield is helped from the arena after a hard throw from a bull. Bull riding was the last event of the Cochise College Rodeo on Sunday at Wren Arena on Fort Huachuca.Suzanne Cronn-Herald/Review |
“The Professional Rodeo Cowboys Assocation has been promoting it and it filtered down through the college ranks,” Slover said. “I think we had a fair rodeo.”
Cochise women’s rider Samantha Lane of Arlington, Ore. was one of the many who wore pink. She finished among the top 10 in goat tying, but no Lady Apache placed among the top six in any event.
“It shows a lot of dedication,” Lane said. “It’s pretty cool.”
New Mexico State University won both the men’s team rodeo with a two-day total of 655 points and the women’s rodeo with 695 points. Cochise scored 535 in the men’s rodeo, NMHU had 515.
New Mexico State’s women’s team, led this season by Sunday’s all-around champion Staci Stanbrough, finished eighth last year in the College National Finals Rodeo.
Apaches bareback rider Tyler Staker was the lone winner on a good day for the team. Staker scored 136 points, beating Jon Luse of Mesalands Community College’s score of 125. Staker and Luse were the only riders who rode for the required eight times on Sunday.
Staker, the bareback leader in the Grand Canyon Region with 682 points, has won three bareback riding contests and came within one point of winning a fourth. On Sunday, Staker finished sixth in team roping with 35.8 seconds to score a two-day total of 195 points.
“I just had to do what I came here to do to the best of my ability,” Staker said. “I could have done better with what I had, he (the horse) could have done better with me.”
Apaches freshman Mert Bradshaw, the men’s all-around leader, finished third in the most competitive event of the afternoon, saddle bronc riding. Dean Daly of New Mexico State University scored an event-high 85 points to win with 156 points. Daly paid a price as he suffered a leg injury.
Cochise College bull rider Jordan Butterfield shed some blood from his head, after he fell hard off his bull before the eight seconds expired.
Butterfield, who will require stitches to his head, was transported by ambulance to the Sierra Vista Regional Health Center. Butterfield was consicious and walking under his own power, and he had bandages to his head and right shin.
“We had some injuries, but we’re still in pretty good position,” Slover said.
The Apaches are still in first place in the eight-team Grand Canyon Region, but not by much. After leading by nearly 200 points going into the region’s first spring rodeo of the season, Cochise College now leads the Aggies, 2,461 to 2,439.
New Mexico State’s catch-up efforts came thanks in large part to men’s all-around champion Wyatt Althoff, who won a large saddle trophy for his efforts.
Having to sit out three rodeos due to academic ineligibility, Althoff won the steer wrestling event with a quicksilver time of 12.4 seconds, including a Sunday low of 6.4 seconds.
Along with teammate Aaron Moyers, Althoff also won the team roping with a combined time of 15.5 seconds, with a low of 8.3 seconds on Sunday and 7.2 on Saturday.
Last summer, Althoff competed in professional rodeos, where he won a combined total of approximately $10,000.
“I won both go-rounds on Saturday,” Althoff said. “It kind of gave me an extra boost going into the short go rounds.”
Central Arizona College rider Craig Begay, the region’s leader in bull riding, continued his mastery of his sport with a score of 152. Cochise’s Garrett Faulhaber was one of the best performers in Saturday morning’s slack, as his score of 78 was good for second place. Faulhaber is now second in the region in bull riding. Apache Cody Dalton was fourth with a score of 68. “He was a pretty tough bull,” Begay said. “I just kept on moving, just stayed mentally positive.”
Stanbrough of New Mexico State won the breakaway roping contest with a time of 7.5 seconds. Samantha Ross of Central Arizona College won the barrel racing event (34.98).
Cochise College’s next rodeo will be on Saturday and Sunday at the U of A. There will be four more rodeos after that, before the College National Finals Rodeo in Cheyenne, Wyo.
