EMCC rodeo teams continue to rank among top three in Ozark Region standings

Published 1:03 pm Tuesday, April 12, 2022

MARTIN, Tenn. — East Mississippi Community College’s rodeo teams remain in second place on the women’s side and third in men’s competition following their performances this past weekend at the University of Tennessee at Martin’s 54thannual Spring College Rodeo. UT Martin’s three-day event concluded Saturday evening at the Ned McWhorter Agricultural Pavilion.

Currently ranked 17th in the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association’s (NIRA) women’s standings and 18th in the men’s national standings, EMCC’s men tied for fourth place this past weekend at UT Martin with 380 points. The EMCC women’s team had a ninth-place finish.

The Lions were led by third-place individual finishes by tie-down roper Tanner Brown (Florence) and steer wrestler Myles Neighbors (Benton, AR). They earned 120 and 110 team points for their respective third-place showings. Neighbors posted a first-round clocking of 4.7 seconds to finish second during the opening run.

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Brown also paired with Laine Moore (Albertville, AL) to place sixth in team roping. Their third-place time of 6.8 seconds in the first round helped secure 100 total points between them.

The EMCC men also had Gavin Lee finishing fifth and earning 50 points in the bareback riding event. The Poplarville product also made it to the short-go round of the steer wrestling competition but did not score.

Kota Wilhite (Corinth/Kossuth HS) rounded out the EMCC men’s results by grabbing 30 individual points in the tie-down roping event.

On the women’s side, EMCC’s lone five team points were secured by reigning Ozark Region breakaway roping champion Blair Bryant (Hatchechubbee, AL). Josie Luttrell (Morganfield, KY) collected 55 individual points for her sixth-place finish in barrel racing.

Coach Morgan Goodrich’s East Mississippi rodeo teams are scheduled to compete at the University of Arkansas at Monticello, April 21-23, before closing out the regular season at Northwest Mississippi Community College the following week (April 28-30) in Senatobia.