Higgins Just Misses Short Go with 13th Place Finish at College National Finals Rodeo

Bennett Takes 15th Place, Gililland Finishes in 18th Place

CASPER, WYO. — Eastern New Mexico University senior bull rider Dusty Higgins (Sr., Roswell, NM/New Mexico JC) just missed the short go in bull riding at the College National Finals Rodeo in Casper, Wyo., as he finished in 13th place, one spot from advancing to the final round. Higgins scored 79.0 points to win the second go, but failed to score in the first go and the third go. He was edged out from making the finals by Matthew Boyers of Murray State University, who scored a 79.5 in the first go for his only successful ride of the CNFR.

The bulls clearly had an edge at the CNFR. Only three athletes stayed up for eight seconds during the short go. Just one rider registered three scores in the preliminary rounds. The overall winner in bull riding was Matt Austin of Hill College, who scored in the first two goes (86.0 and 73.0), then failed to score in the third go, before adding an 82.5 score in the finals (241.5 total score).

Brittany Bennett (So., Portales, NM/Dora HS) also came close to reaching the short go for ENMU in barrel racing, with a three-run total of 44.16 seconds (14.69-15.02-14.45). She was just 0.17 seconds away from qualifying for the finals. Nataly Tatone from the University of Nevada at Las Vegas won the barrel racing title with an overall time of 56.89 seconds (14.39-14.09-14.14-14.27).

James Gililland (Sr., Tularosa, NM/Tularosa HS) and his team roping partner, Clayton Jackson of Tarleton State University, finished in 18th place after failing to record a time in the third go. They recorded very solid times in the first two rounds (7.3-7.8), and ended the CNFR with the second best finish among teams with only two completed runs. Twenty-six of 42 teams failed on at least one attempt during the preliminary rounds.

Team roping was won by Ryan Carter and Kollin Von Ahn of Southeastern Oklahoma State University. They recorded an overall time of 29.3 seconds (7.0-7.8-7.3-7.2) to claim the title.

Tarleton State University won the men's team championship with 1,485 points. The Texans held a large lead over the second place team, Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo, which scored 697.5 points. Third place was earned by Central Wyoming College with 572.5 points. ENMU tied for 28th with 125 points.

The women's team title also went to Tarleton State, with a total of 461.7 points. Nevada-Las Vegas took second place with 380 points, and National American University finished third with 373.3 points. ENMU did not score in the women's division.

CNFR Concludes Successful Season for ENMU

The CNFR completed an outstanding 2004-05 season for the ENMU rodeo teams. The men’s team won the Weatherford College Rodeo and the Odessa College Rodeo, while the women’s team took first place at the West Texas A&M University Rodeo. Head Coach David Browder was chosen Southwest Region Coach of the Year.

Eastern’s women took fourth place in the Southwest Region with 673.33 points, less than seven points away from Vernon College in third place with 680.0 points. Tarleton State won the Regional title with 1,424.99 points

The ENMU men’s team placed fifth in the Southwest Region with 1,110.83 points. Texas Tech University won the men’s Regional championship with 1,859.16 points.