MSU men, women each win both rodeos
By Bill Lamberty MSU ATHLETICS
BOZEMAN—After a weekend full of individual highlights, one accomplishment stood out to Montana State head coach Kyle Whitaker as an accumulation of all the others.
“The first year or two I was here we didn’t win both the (men’s and women’s) team titles,” Whitaker said. “So I hammed on them all winter the we’ve got to protect the Fieldhouse and take care of business. That’s what we were trying to do, to defend our home turf.”
The Bobcats clinched the weekend sweeps in style on Sunday, topping second-place UM Western 1,135 points to 345 in the men’s competition and edged the Bulldogs 275 points to 225 in the women’s. Montana State also won both the men’s and women’s portions of the MSU Spring Rodeo #1 on Thursday and Friday.
Senior Wes Shaw boosted the Bobcats from the beginning. He had an apparent victory in the bareback, posting 147 on two head, but UM Western’s Trevor Kay was given the option of a re-ride after marking a 62 and parlayed the second attempt into a 77, matching Shaw for best in the short go and winning the average.
Unbowed, Shaw won the steer wrestling with a 5.7 to win the go and 13.3 to take the average. He also finished second on two head in the tie-down roping. Sophomore Cole Gerhardt also proved productive on both ends of the arena, finishing third on the average in bareback and tied for fifth in steer wrestling.
“We’re so lucky to have Cole Gerhardt and Wes Shaw,” Whitaker said. “They’re great bareback riders and they’re also great in all the timed events and they just take care of business. There’s no other school in the country that has bareback riders that are that good and timed events.”
On a weekend dominated by youth – five MSU freshman or sophomore men placed in the top six on the average for MSU on Sunday, compared to just two juniors or seniors – Shaw struck a blow for old-timers. The senior competed in Brick Breeden Fieldhouse for the final time.
“It’s my last time rodeo in here and I just get let it all hang out and I was just out there having fun. I mean, it it all worked out for the best and I couldn’t have been happier how it turned out.”
Another young Bobcat, freshman Holden Atkinson, electrified Worthington Arena for the second time about 18 hours in the bull riding. He became the only competitor to ride two bulls, topping Saturday’s 75 with an 80 on Sunday to take top honors in both go-rounds and the average.
“Holden, the sky’s limit for him and we’re really lucky to have him here,” Whitaker said. “He’s starting to show the crowd what he can do and hopefully we can keep him around here a couple more years and so the fans keep seeing win. He’s got a great professional career ahead of him, and we’re going to get him an education here and get him prepared for the rest (of his life).”
Montana State’s women won only one event on the average of the second rodeo, the goat tying, but the fact that two Bobcats shared the title told only part of the sFour tory of MSU’s dominance in that event. Sophomores Faith Marshall and Michaela McCormick each marked a 13.1 on two head to win the average, but teammates Breyer Newman and Cassidy Bolich, both juniors, and senior Haven Wolstein rounded out the top five.
“It’s so much fun,” McCormick said. “Faith and I practice together every day, so that is a whole lot of fun. We’ll time each other on the stop watches and we’ll race against each other in practice, just to keep it competitive, just like at the rodeos.”
Four different MSU women occupied spots within the top six of breakaway roping – Haven Wolstein (second), Sydney Berquist (third), Landry Rice (fourth) and Hailey Burger (sixth). In barrel racing, Anneliese McCurry, (second), Alexis McDonald (fifth) and Michelle Williams (sixth) cracked the scoring column.
Whitaker is pleased with his team’s depth of talent. MSU’s fourth-year coach has built a program producing talent in all six men’s events and all three women’s events, particularly with an influx of young roughstock riders on the men’s side. Through four fall rodeos in the Big Sky Region of the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association, Montana State led the men’s and women’s team standings, led the men’s and women’s all-around, and led four of the six men’s events and two of the three women’s.
“It’s been a little bit of learning as I go,” Whitaker said, “because I got some really tough guys in the steer wrestling right off the bat and, but we were lacking in a few of the other events. Now I feel like we’ve got depth in every event and that’s what we need. When you get to the CNFR, you have to be competitive in every event. That’s how we’re gonna get a championship. So I’m really excited about our team. The guys and girls are both tough and I think we’re prepared.”
The MSU Spring Rodeo launches the spring season in the Big Sky Region, with the teams competing at MSU Northern, Miles Community College (two rodeos) and the University of Montana to complete the six-rodeo, dash through the spring season. Whitaker remains impressed and grateful for the turbo-charged four days in the Brick Breeden Fieldhouse.
“I’ve been going to rodeos, first with my dad when I was a little kid and then competing, for almost 30 years,” Whitaker said. “This is as enthusiastic a crowd as you’ll find anywhere, any level of rodeo. The support here is just amazing. It feels like you’re at a rock concert, it feels like you’re at a party, last night when Holden rode that bull that was as loud as when someone hits a game-winning shot in a championship basketball game.”
McCormick put it more simply. “It’s always so electric in this place,” she said. “It’s just so much fun.”
