Higgins Wins Bull Riding and All-Around Cowboy,
as ENMU Takes First Place at Weatherford College Rodeo
Greyhounds Edge Texas Tech for Team Title

Men's Event Champions
Women's Event Champions

WEATHERFORD, TEXAS — Senior Dusty Higgins (Roswell, NM/New Mexico Junior College) won bull riding and was named All-Around Cowboy, as he led the Greyhounds from Eastern New Mexico University to the team championship Mar. 10-12 at the Weatherford College Rodeo. ENMU scored 235 points, including 120 points provided by Higgins, to edge Texas Tech University (220) for the title. The ENMU women’s team did not score, but Kelcey Foreman (Jr., Elk City, OK/Vernon College) reached the finals in two events and Brittany Bennett (Fr., Portales, NM/Portales HS) missed the short go by one-tenth of a second.

Higgins scored an 82 in the long go, then added an 85 in the short go to finish bull riding with an overall tally of 167 points. Second place went to by Ned Cross of Western Texas College, who scored a 75 in the long go, followed by an 84 in the short go for 159 points. Jared Green (Fr., Soccoro, NM/Soccoro HS) of ENMU and Danny McDowell of Howard College tied for third place based on their preliminary scores of 77. Higgins and Cross were the only athletes to complete their rides in the short go.

Higgins also advanced to the short go in bareback riding. He scored 73 points in the long go and was rated at 71 points in the short go. He did not finish high enough to score points toward ENMU’s team score. Meanwhile, Green tied for ninth in the long go in saddle bronc riding, but did not earn a score in the short go.

Foreman advanced to the short go in break-away roping and goat tying. She achieved a time of 3.0 seconds in the short go of break-away, which placed her in fifth place heading into the finals. She was unable to record a time in the short go. In goat tying, Foreman clocked in at 9.3 seconds in the long go, but her short go included a penalty for an official time of 19.7 seconds (29.0 total). Bennett, who leads the Southwest Region in barrel racing, clocked in at just over 18 seconds at Weatherford to barely miss the short go. The cutoff was 17.99 seconds.

In the men’s division, ENMU received a total of 165 points from Higgins and Green in bull riding. The Greyhounds also picked up 70 points when Royce Lynch (Sr., Deming, NM/Deming HS) won the short go in tie-down roping and was second in the overall standings. He earned a time of 9.4 seconds in the long go, before completing the short go in 8.2 seconds. His overall time of 17.6 seconds was 0.2 behind C.R. Moore of Tarleton State University, who finished with a total time of 17.4 seconds (8.9-8.5).

Kooper Saiz (Fr., Aztec, NM/Aztec HS) placed fourth in both the short go and the average in tie-down roping, but was not on Eastern’s list of six athletes eligible to contribute to the team’s score. Saiz clocked in at 9.5 seconds in the long go, then finished the short go in 9.3 seconds (18.8 overall). Cinco Boone (Sr., Elida, NM/Portales HS) also reached the finals in tie-down roping with a time of 9.8 seconds in the long go. He did not record a time in the short go.

ENMU’s Riley Tully (So., Estancia, NM/Estancia HS) competed with Charlie Tully of Texas Tech in team roping. They clocked in with a time of 6.0 seconds in the preliminary round to tie for fourth place in the long go. In the short go, they failed to complete their ride.

Following ENMU and Texas Tech in the standings were Western Texas College in third place with 140 points and Weatherford College in fourth place with 132 1/2 points. Tarleton State took fifth place (110 points), South Plains College was sixth (100 points), West Texas A&M University earned seventh place (90 points), Sul Ross State University finished eighth (80 points), Frank Phillips College took ninth (45 points), Odessa College was 10th (40 points), Howard College earned 11th place (33 1/3 points) and Vernon College was 12th (30 points).

In the women’s division, Tarleton State claimed the team championship by a wide margin. The TexAnns scored 250 points, and were followed by Weatherford in second place with 110 points and by Texas Tech in third with 100 points. Fourth place went to Odessa College at 95 points, while West Texas A&M took fifth with 90 points. Vernon College was sixth (55 points), Western Texas was seventh (25 points) and New Mexico Junior College finished eighth (20 points). Tessie McMullan of Tarleton State scored 100 team points to earn All-Around Cowgirl honors.

ENMU’s next competition will be at the Odessa College Rodeo on Mar. 24-26. The event will be held at the Outback Arena in Odessa, Texas.

Men’s Event Champions
at Weatherford College (Mar. 10-12, 2005)

Bareback Riding
Ryan Gray of Texas Tech
78-80—158 points

Bull Riding
Dusty Higgins of Eastern New Mexico
82-85—167 points

Saddle Bronc Riding
Will Payne of Frank Phillips
74-80—154 points

Steer Wrestling
Walker Watt of Sull Ross State
5.0-3.8—8.8 seconds

Team Roping
Blake Teixeira of Tarleton State and Kyle Crick of Weatherford
5.7-6.3—12.0 seconds

Tie-Down Roping
C.R. Moore of Tarleton State
8.9-8.5—17.4 seconds

Women’s Event Champions
at Weatherford College (Mar. 10-12, 2005)

Barrel Racing
J.J. Thompson Texas Tech
17.73-17.43—36.16 seconds

Break-Away Roping
Neelley Riley Tarleton State
2.8-2.5—5.3 seconds

Goat Tying
Tessie McMullan of Tarleton State
8.5-8.3—16.8 seconds