Rodeo finishes at finals, multiple riders nationally ranked

The Wolverine Rodeo team finished its season in mid June at the College National Finals Rodeo.

“We had a pretty good finals for the most part,” said head coach Shane Draper. “We had only three of the eight athletes that qualified for the finals not make the short go. Those three had a little bad luck to start out with so they just had to go for broke in the third round and it didn’t quite work out the way we wanted it to.”

Rodeo star Skya Defa worked towards a national title in breakaway roping and Draper said, “When she nodded her head her calf jumped straight in the air and she had to take the shot of roping him while he was jumping up in the air and unfortunately missed, but ended up eleventh in the nation.”

The team had six men qualify for the finals with half of them not making the short go. Bareback riders Colton Bair and Caleb Bennett both made it to the short round. “Colton had got on a couple of weak horses in the first and second rounds, but had a good one in the third round which helped him qualify for the short go,” said Draper.

Bair finished seventh in the nation while Bennett finished eighth in the nation.

Steer wrestler Jake Woolstenhulme also qualified and finished ninth in the nation after the short round. “Jake drew a good steer to make another good run on and caught him quick, but when he went to the nose the steer hung for a second which gave Jake a run in the six second range,” said Draper.

As a team the men ended up twenty-fourth in the nation. Draper was pleased with his team, noting “Things were a little better this year. On the rough stock end we just hope they keep getting better so that everyone has a level playing field.”