RANGELY I It was a great weekend in Rangely for a rodeo as many of the CNCC Spartans had standout successes in the arena, while the entire team, volunteers and community stepped up to welcome the 10 visiting colleges and all of their families to the second annual Spartan Showdown on Friday and Saturday.
The CNCC men’s team continues to try hard and place deep in all events. They set a new team record with 650 points scored in a single weekend, finishing second to season leader CSI.
Sophomore Brice Osborne led the way by placing fifth in bareback riding, sweeping both rounds of the bull riding and securing the men’s All-Around buckle. Other Spartans earning points at the Showdown were Jesse Anderson, second in bareback riding, Wade Grimshaw placing fifth in steer wrestling and tie-down roping, the team-roping duo of Clay Crozier and Brody Adams finishing second in the long go of team roping and finishing sixth overall.
The Spartan cowgirls had a few hometown jitters with only three qualifiers for the championship round. The ladies were led by freshman points leader Karlee Worthen, who split first in the first round of breakaway roping and finished fifth overall. Other short-go qualifiers were Taylor Duzik in breakaway roping and Courtney Hibbs in goat tying.
The final rodeo of the season is Friday and Saturday in Grand Junction for the Colorado Mesa University Maverick Stampede. The CNCC men’s team is holding down the No. 2 spot for the year-end qualification to the College National Finals Rodeo while the CNCC ladies are in the middle of the regional standings in fifth place.
Several of Rangely’s food service locations stayed open extra late in order to accommodate the throngs of visitors after the rodeos ended while all of the available rooms in the town were packed full of baseball, softball and rodeo teams along with friends and families of contestants.