Athletic Report
May 1, 2002

SULTEMEIER AND GENDRON LEAD ZIAS TO SECOND PLACE FINISH AT TARLETON STATE RODEO
STEPHENVILLE, TX – Ashley Sultemeier (Fr., Melrose, NM/ Melrose H.S.) and Kristin Gendron (So. Templeton, CA/Templeton H.S.) helped the Eastern New Mexico University Zias take second place overall at the Tarleton State University Rodeo, April 25-27.

Sultemeier placed third in goat tying and Gendron earned a third place finish in barrel racing. Sultemeier completed the short go in goat tying with an overall time of 15.0 seconds for her two runs in the event (7.7-7.3). Goat tying was won by Elisha Watt of West Texas with a combined time of 14.5 seconds.

Sultemeier qualified for the Conference Finals Rodeo, which will be held in Hobbs, N.M., May 23-26. Gendron took third place in barrel racing. She had the second best time after the long round at 15.48 seconds, and fourth best time in the short go with a 15.61. She earned a combined time of 31.09. Jamie Standifer of Tarleton State took first place, beating Gendron with a combined time of 30.94.

James Gililland (Fr., Tularosa, NM/Tularosa H.S.) of ENMU and teammate Ky Atwood (Sr., Roswell, NM/Odessa College) placed second in team roping at 11.8 seconds (6.0-5.8). Gililland and Trent Cornelius of Howard College had a combined time of 12.0 seconds (6.3-5.7), which was good enough for third place.

Kyle Dutton (Sr., Los Lunas, NM/La Mesa H.S.) and Wes McConnell (So., Bloomfield, NM/Bloomfield H.S.), both from ENMU, also made the short go in team roping, but did not place in the top five. Gililland was named 2002 Southwest Region Champion Team Roper. He now has earned an automatic bye, along with Atwood, into the College National Finals Rodeo, June 9-15, in Casper, Wyo. Wes McConnell of ENMU made the short go in calf roping and ran a combined time of 19.8 seconds.

Calf roping was won by Brady Brock of Vernon College, who posted a combine time of 17.4 (8.7-8.7) to win. Tarleton State claimed first place for the men with 295 points. Second place honors went to Howard College with 275 points. Vernon College finished third with 260 points and was followed by Western Texas College with 182.5 points. Odessa College took fifth place with 130 points, West Texas claimed sixth with 95 points, and was closely followed by New Mexico Junior College with 80 points.

ENMU scored 60 points and Frank Phillips College scored 25 points. The only other team to score was Mesalands Community College with 5 team points. In the individual men’s events, Colby Schneaman of Howard College and Chris Irwin of Tarleton State took first place in team roping with a combined time of 11.4 seconds (5.4-6.0).

Dusty Higgins of New Mexico J.C. took first in bull riding with 147 points (70-77). Cimmaron Gerke of Odessa College took first in bareback riding (72-76--148), while Blake Doyle of Tarleton State won saddle bronc riding (77-76--153) and Jake DeGeer of Howard College took first place in steer wrestling (4.7-3.9--8.6).

Tarleton State cleaned house in winning the women’s team title with 370 points. The Zias scored 120 team points in the women’s division with help from Sultemeier and Gendron. Both were included on the predetermined list of four cowgirls eligible to score points for ENMU.

West Texas A&M claimed third with 80 points. Vernon College placed fourth with 60 points. Western Texas College had 40 points to take fifth place, while New Mexico J.C. placed sixth with 20 team points. In addition to Standifer’s victory in barrel racing, other winners in women’s events were Elisha Watt in goat tying (7.1-7.4--14.5) and Jill Childers of Tarleton State in break-away roping with times of 2.5 seconds in the long go and 3.1 seconds in the short go (5.6 seconds overall).

The All-Around Cowboy for the weekend was Chris Irwin who added 85 points for Tarleton State. The All-Around Cowgirl was Jill Childers, also from Tarleton State, who scored 150 points by herself. The Conference Finals Rodeo will be the next event for the Greyhounds and Zias. Eastern’s team members will attempt to join Gililland and Atwood in qualifying for the College National Finals Rodeo.

ENMU’s qualifiers for the Conference Finals Rodeo are Atwood in team roping, Gililland in team roping, Dutton in calf roping, Gendron in break-away roping, Sultemeier in goat tying and Kelly Jo Jump (Sr., Reserve, NM/Mesalands Community College) in goat tying.