{"id":6808,"date":"2018-05-07T09:28:20","date_gmt":"2018-05-07T14:28:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/?p=6808"},"modified":"2018-05-07T09:30:52","modified_gmt":"2018-05-07T14:30:52","slug":"sau-rodeo-team-looking-forward-to-college-national-rodeo-finals-in-casper-wyo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/2018\/sau-rodeo-team-looking-forward-to-college-national-rodeo-finals-in-casper-wyo\/","title":{"rendered":"SAU Rodeo Team looking forward to College National Rodeo Finals in Casper, Wyo."},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>The Southern Arkansas University Rodeo Team will send eight students to the College National Rodeo Finals in Casper, Wyo., in June. Their performance caps another impressive year for the team, said Rusty Hayes, rodeo coach.<\/p>\n

Strand Barricklow and Britt Driggers won the Ozark Region Champion Team Roping Header and Heeler titles. Jacie Sullivan is the Ozark Region Champion in Goat Tying.\u00a0 Logan Graham, Cooper Lee, Ashton Glascock, Michaela Caudle and Shiloh Marchand all finished in the top three in their respective events, qualifying them for competition in Casper.<\/p>\n

The team members qualified for Finals at an intercollegiate rodeo event held at Northwest Mississippi Community College in Senatobia, Miss., in April. Now they are preparing for the national event, which will be June 10-16.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not surprised we are sending a team,\u201d Hayes said. \u201cI would have expected these students to be there, for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Glascock, an English major from Hartsburg, Miss., said she is \u201cabsolutely excited\u201d to be going to the CNFR. She qualified this year in the goat tying event. It won\u2019t be her first run at Casper.<\/p>\n

Not many universities have facilities like Story Arena. The quality of the program convinced me to come here.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been out there twice before in breakaway roping but not goat tying, so this will be a challenge,\u201d Glascock said. A roper since age 10, Glascock said she chose SAU due to its state-of-the-art rodeo facilities. \u201cNot many universities have facilities like Story Arena. The quality of the program convinced me to come here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Barricklow, a junior Agriculture Business major from Lebanon, Ind., said this will be his first trip to Finals. \u201cIt was a goal of mine,\u201d he said. \u201cI came to qualify. To win region this year is just awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said he decided to come to SAU due to its facilities and the quality of the program. \u201cOur coach is very supportive, he always makes sure we have good practice stock,\u201d Barricklow said. \u201cI think the Finals will be a challenge for everyone, but we\u2019ll be competing to the best of our abilities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Driggers, a senior Agriculture Business major from Pearcy, Ark., will be making his third trip to Casper this year. \u201cI\u2019m looking forward to it,\u201d he said. \u201cI think this is one of the best chances I\u2019ll have to do something. My first year was a good learning experience, but I think this year, with Strand as my partner, we\u2019ll be very successful.\u201d<\/p>\n

Driggers will graduate on May 4, but stay on at SAU to pursue his master\u2019s degree. He will still be eligible for one more year on the rodeo team. Last year, he qualified for Finals as the No. 3 steer wrestler in the Ozark Region.<\/p>\n

Glascock said she looks forward to competing against girls she\u2019s met at past rodeo events. \u201cIt\u2019s always fun to meet back up with them on the college level,\u201d she said. \u201cThey are just crazy athletes. I\u2019ll need to practice a lot between now and then, put it that way.\u201d<\/p>\n

That might mean staying up until 2:00 a.m. It means a lot, especially to me and Strand, to be able to have good grades and still come out with the Ozark title.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

She said the student-athletes on the rodeo team hold themselves and each other to a high standard and make time for academics as well as practice. \u201cIt\u2019s been a goal of mine to make the Dean\u2019s List and the President\u2019s List, and it takes time and hard work to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Driggers agreed, noting that most team members come for hours of practice after a full day of class. \u201cWe\u2019re (at Story Arena) every day throughout the year, even if we\u2019ve got tests. We\u2019ll come in the afternoon and stay until 9:00-11:00 at night, then go home and study,\u201d he said. \u201cThat might mean staying up until 2:00 a.m. It means a lot, especially to me and Strand, to be able to have good grades and still come out with the Ozark title.\u201d<\/p>\n

The team recruits quality student-athletes from around the nation. \u201cWe pride ourselves on that,\u201d Hayes said. Marchand, for example, will be making the three-day drive from her home in Middleboro, Mass., to Wyoming in June. The freshman Animal Science major said she learned a lot about herself and her horse this past season, and to be fearless and independent in her performance.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs for the Finals, I really hope to just do my best in an atmosphere unlike anything I have competed in before,\u201d Marchand said. \u201cIt is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and I\u2019m grateful that I can say I have made the College National Rodeo Finals my freshman year in college.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hayes said that with the addition of this year\u2019s recruiting class, he expects the team to be stronger next year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Southern Arkansas University Rodeo Team will send eight students to the College National Rodeo Finals in Casper, Wyo., in June. Their performance caps another impressive year for the team, said Rusty Hayes, rodeo coach. Strand Barricklow and Britt Driggers won the Ozark Region Champion Team Roping Header and Heeler titles. Jacie Sullivan is the… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":564,"featured_media":6809,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[265,32641,288,195],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-6808","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-events","8":"category-featured-layout","9":"category-regional-news","10":"category-rodeo","11":"entry"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6808","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/564"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6808"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6808\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6809"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6808"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6808"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6808"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}