The South Plains College rodeo team concluded their fall season at the Clarendon College Rodeo this past weekend with several noteworthy performances.
SPC had eight athletes qualify and compete in the short round, and they even had an event champion, so all things considered, it was a pretty successful weekend for the teams.
“We had a good rodeo at Childress. The Clarendon College Rodeo is the last one for the semester. Our women’s team went in ranked number two, and we had a really good weekend,” SPC Rodeo Head Coach Kerry Doster said. “Zaran Kirkpatrick won the Goat Tying, and we had other top individuals in there gathering up points for our women’s team. We didn’t win the women’s team title for the weekend, but the performance moved us back up to first place in the regional standings. That’s a good place to be going into the halfway point of the year. Sitting number one is always where we want to be.”
Sophomore Zaran Kirkpatrick highlighted the rodeo for the Lady Texans as the Goat Tying Champion with a 6.3 in the short round and a 12.8 average, which scored 60 points for the team.
Sophomore Katie Knez also dominated in the rodeo, placing second in the Women’s All-Round standings with 90 total points after finishing fifth in Goat Tying with a 14.2 average and sixth in Breakaway Roping with a 102.3 average.
And rounding out the ladies’ performances were sophomore Tiffanie Mc-Cormick and freshman McKenna Hipps in the Breakaway Roping, as Mc-Cormick placed seventh with an average of 102.4 and Hipps placed eighth with an average of 102.5.
As Coach Doster referenced, the Lady Texans’ performance didn’t win them the rodeo, but it propelled them back to first in the Caprock Region Standings, over 150 points above the second-place team.
They head into the break as the clear best in West Texas, and while the same can’t be said for the men’s team that’s ranked seventh, they still closed the season strong with some good individual performances at the Clarendon Rodeo. Freshman Jaxon Stoker placed sixth in tiedown roping with an 11.5 in the short round and a 25.8 average, scoring 30 points. Stoker also placed third in team roping with freshman Levi Sasser with a 106.0 average to bring home a combined 200 points. Stoker would place fourth in the Men’s All-Round standings with 130 total points.
And rounding out the standouts were freshman Trey Huwa and Kail Brunson, who also competed in the team roping, placing sixth with a 107.4 average.
After a successful final rodeo and fall season, the team now gets a three-month break from competition.
“This time of year is our break. These kids go all spring, summer and fall, so this time of year we let our horses rest a little bit and then we’ll get rolling again around Feb. 1. We’ll zone in then and get everybody tuned back up and ready to go.”
Congratulations to the rodeo program on an awesome fall season, which they’ll seek to build on in the spring, but until then they can enjoy some well-earned rest.