College National Finals Rodeo Crowns 2018 Champions
CASPER, Wyoming – Saturday night at the 70th College National Finals Rodeo (CNFR) is traditionally championship night.
That means the top 12 in each event after three preliminary rounds compete to determine 2018 national championships in nine events, plus men’s and women’s all-around and team titles.
In seven of the nine events, athletes who held the lead after the first three rounds were able to hold off all challengers. But there were come-from-behind winners in one men’s and one women’s event,
In the bareback riding Tyler Berghuis, a 22-year-old from Atwater, Minnesota, who attends Tarleton State University in Stephenville, Texas, won the national title at his first CNFR. The senior ag industries and agencies major who will graduate in August, won three of the four rounds en route to his first championship.
Ty Harris, a freshman at Cisco College, had clocked a time in the eight-second range to finish first or second in the first three rounds. The 19-year-old tie-down roper from San Angelo, Texas, finished with a total time of 38.5 seconds for the win. Harris, an ag business major, is currently third in the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association rookie standings in his event.
Australian cowboy Jake Finlay, who competed for Oklahoma Panhandle State University was crowned the new champion in saddle bronc riding. Finlay, 23, was a member of last year’s men’s championship team. He just earned his animal science degree and was competing in his third CNFR. Finlay’s title led Panhandle State to their second consecutive men’s team win.
In steer wrestling Tristan Martin of Sulphur, Louisiana, who competed for East Mississippi Community College, had turned in times of 4.2 or 4.3 seconds in the first three rounds. The rodeo announcers said the senior marketing major needed a time of five seconds to win the title, and that’s exactly what Martin delivered.
The standout athlete of the night was Mia Manzanares from McNeese State University. The 21-year-old senior majoring in health and human performance held the lead in goat tying after finishing second in two rounds. With the fastest time of the week – 5. 9 seconds, she left no doubt who was this year’s top hand in goat tying.
Manzanares also qualified for the final round of breakaway roping, despite finishing no better than 13th in any of the first three rounds. Her times of 3.1 or 3.2 seconds on her first three calves were consistent and put her in ninth place. She virtually cut her time in half, tying the arena record with a time of 1.7 seconds to win the final round. That gave her a total of 11.1 seconds and when the event ended, Manzanares was crowned national champion.
Her domination of the finals earned Manzanares the women’s all-around national championship and single-handedly boosted McNeese State to the women’s team championship by just five points over Texas Tech University.
Kynzie McNeill, senior animal science major at Texas Tech, was the top-ranked barrel racer when the night began and after clocking a time of 14.09 seconds, the Hobbs, New Mexico, cowgirl won the national championship by 18 one-hundredths of a second. McNeill, a four-time National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association All American was competing in her third CNFR.
Will Centoni, a junior from Cuesta College, earned the bull riding national championship on the strength of his performance in the first two rounds. No bull rider managed to make a qualified ride in the finals. Centoni, 21, who lives in Hollister, California, qualified for the finals in three events – bull riding, team roping and saddle bronc riding – at his second CNFR. He earned points in all three events to win the all-around championship.
The only men’s event to feature come-from-behind winners was team roping. Kellan Johnson, who is from Casper and rodeos for Gillette College, and Trey Yates, who is from Pueblo, Colorado, and competes for Casper College, were in third place when the night began, 5.5 seconds behind first place. Their time of 5.2 seconds won the final round, earned a standing ovation from the crowd and made them national champions.
2018 COLLEGE NATIONAL FINALS RODEO CHAMPIONS
Bareback – Tyler Berghuis, Tarleton State University, 320.5 points
Tie-Down Roping – Ty Harris, Cisco College, 38.5 seconds
Breakaway Roping – Mia Manzanares, Gillette College, 11.1 seconds
Saddle Bronc Riding – Jake Finlay, Panhandle State University, ,311.5 points
Steer Wrestling – Tristan Martin, East Mississippi Community College, 17.7 seconds
Goat Tying – Mia Manzanares, McNeese State University, 24.9 seconds
Team Roping – Kellan Johnson, Gillette College and Trey Yates, Casper College, 30.0 seconds.
Barrel Racing – Kynzie McNeill, Texas Tech University – Lubbock, 57.38 seconds
Bull Riding – Will Centoni, Cuesta College, 155 points on two
Men’s All-Around – Will Centoni, Cuesta College, 645 points
Women’s All-Around – Mia Manzanares, McNeese State University, 480 points
Men’s Team – Panhandle State University, 750 points
Women’s Team – McNeese State University, 480 points
Men’s Rookie – Ty Harris, Cisco College, 345 points
Women’s Rookie – Maddee Doerr, Cochise College, 255 points
The following are final round and overall winners at the 70th annual College National Finals Rodeo, June 16, 2018, courtesy of the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association. Complete results are available at www.collegerodeo.com.
Bareback Riding: (final round) 1, Tyler Berghuis, Tarleton State University, 81.5 points. 2, Garrett Shadbolt, Doane University, 80. 3, (tie) Cache Hill, University of Providence, and Will Martin, Panhandle State University, 79 each. (total on four) 1, Berghuis, 320.5 points. 2, Shadbolt, 313. 3, Tristan Hansen, University of Montana – Western, 305. 4, Travis Chapman, Panola College, 302. 5, Jesse Nelson, Montana State University, 301.5. 6, Zach Hibler, Hill College, 299.5. 7, Hill, 298.5. 8, Martin, 297.5.
Tie Down Roping: (final round) 1, Chase Thrasher, University of Tennessee – Martin, 8.4 seconds. 2, Zack Jongbloed, McNeese State University, 9.4. 3, Jordan Ty, Central Washington University, and Bo Yaussi, North Central Texas College, 9.8 each. (total on four) 1, Ty Harris, Cisco College, 38.5 seconds. 2, Jongbloed, 39.8. 3, Yaussi, 40.9. 4, Thrasher, 43.6. 5, Tye, 43.9. 6, Nolan Sybrant, Hastings College, 49.1. 7, Will Powell, Montana State University, 50.5. 8, Shane Knerr, Texas Tech University – Lubbock, 51.6.
Breakaway Roping: (final round) 1, Mia Manzanares, McNeese State University, 1.7 seconds. 2, (tie) Katie Rice, Cal Poly State University – San Luis Obispo; Rickie Engesser, Gillette College; and Loni Lester, Sam Houston State University; 2.2 each. (total on four) 1, Manzanares, 11.1. 2, Engesser, 11.3. 3, Lester, 11.8. 4, Whitley Whitewood, Texas A&M University, 12.1. 5, Shaye Jessee, Southwest Texas Junior College, 19.9. 6, Rice, 20.1. 7, (tie) Abigayle Hampton, West Hills College and Lakota Bird, Central Arizona College, 20.2.
Saddle Bronc Riding: (final round) 1, Brody Cress, Tarleton State University, 82.5 points. 2, Jake Finlay, Panhandle State University, 82. 3, Dawson Dahm, Panhandle State University, 76. 4, Keenan Reinhardt, Montana State University, 71. (total on four) 1, Finlay, 311.5. 2, Dahm, 295. 3, Carter Elshere, Gillette College, 284.5. 4, Reinhardt, 272.5. 5, Calvin Shaffer, Northwest College, 170. (on three) 6, Brody Cress, Tarleton State University, 231.5. 7, Will Centoni, Cuesta College, 226. 8, Briar Dittmer, Missouri Valley College, 216.5.
Steer Wrestling: (final round) 1, Gabe Soileau, McNeese State University, 3.5 seconds. 2, Thomas Davis, Central Wyoming College, 4.1. 3, Sterling Lee, Dickinson State University, 4.3. 4, Cody Devers, Northwestern Oklahoma State University, 4.6. (total on four) Tristan Martin, East Mississippi Community College, 17.7 seconds. 2, Devers, 18.5. 3, Davis, 19.5. 4, Lee, 20.2. 5, Soileau, 20.6. 6, Will Powell, Montana State University, 20.8. 7, Chet Boren, South Plains College, 22.8. 8, Drew Madden, West Hills College, 23.5.
Goat Tying: (final round) 1, Mia Manzanares, McNeese State University, 5.9 seconds. 2, Maddee Doerr, Cochise College, 6.3. 3, (tie) Jacey Hupp, South Dakota State University, and Jenna Dallyn, South Plains College, 6.4 each. (total on four) 1, Manzanares, 24.9. 2, Doerr, 25.6. 3, Dallyn, 26.4. 4, Shiann Henderson, Southeastern Oklahoma State University, 27.4. 5, Hupp, 27.7. 6, Jessi Burdett, University of Nevada – Las Vegas, 27.8. 7, Taylour Latham Gillette College, 28.0. 8, Celie Vick, Eastern New Mexico University, 28.1.
Team Roping: (final round) 1, Kellan Johnson, Gillette College and Trey Yates, Casper College, 5.2 seconds. 2, John Opela and Doug Finney, University of Nebraska, 6.9. 3, Maverick Harper, and Tanner Nall, Northwestern Oklahoma State University, 10.8. 4, Lexie Andrade and Ethan Awa, Walla Walla Community College, 11.5. (total on four) 1, Johnson and Yates, 30.0. 2, Will Centoni, Cuesta College and Wyatt Adamas, Clovis Community College – California, 54.6. (on three) 3, Clay Elkington and Cole Sherwood, Central Arizona College, 19.3. 4, Case hirdes, West Hills College and Dalton Pearce, Feather River College, 22.1. 5, Harper and Nall, 24.7. 6, Opela and Finney, 24.9. 7, Colton Campbell, California State University – Fresno and Brushton Minton, West Hills College, 25.5. 8, Logan Graham, Southern Arkansas University and Jace Harris, East Mississippi Community College, 26.8.
Barrel Racing: (final round) 1, Abby Searcy, University of Arkansas – Monticello, 14.04. 2, Maddy Dickens, Odessa College, 14.07. 3, Kynzie McNeill, Texas Tech University – Lubbock, 14.09. 4, Madison Wilkerson, Montana State University, 14.10. (total on four) McNeill, 57.36. 2, Dickens, 57.56. 3, Searcy, 58.14. 4, Katie Jo Boyd, Texas A7M University, 58.34. 5, Alex Odle, South Plains College, 58.45. 6, Wilkerson, 58.49. 7, Jimmie Smith, Texas A&M University, 58.73. 8, Anna barker, New Mexico State University, 58.86.
Bull Riding: (final round — no rides – total on two) 1, Will Centoni, Cuesta College, 155 points. 2, Clayton Sellars, Western Texas College, 147. 3, Koby Radley, Panola College, 138. 4, Garrett Wickett, Mid Plains Community College, 126. (on one) 5, Coby Demo, Feather River College, 82. 6, JorDee Nielsen, College of Southern Idaho, 79.5. 7, Blaise Milligan, New Mexico State University, 78. 8, Dustin Martinez, Panhandle State University, 77.5.
Men’s All-Around: 1, Will Centoni, Cuesta College, 545 points. 2, Brushton Minton, West Hills College, 200. 3, Maverick Harper, Northwestern Oklahoma State University, 170. 4, Jordan Tye, Central Washington University, 140.
Women’s All-Around: 1, Mia Manzanares, McNeese State University, 480 points. 2, Rickie Engesser, Gillette College, 225. 3, Shelby Spielman, Texas Tech University – Lubbock, 155. 2 4, Whitney DeSalvo, Texas Tech University – Lubbock, 90. 4,.
Men’s Team: 1, Panhandle State University, 750 points. 2, Tarleton State University, 650. 3, Northwestern Oklahoma State University, 595. 4, Cuesta College, 590.
Women’s Team: 1, McNeese State University, 480. 2, Texas Tech University – Lubbock, 475. 2, Gillette College, 385. 4, Texas A&M University, 323.33.