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Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College (NEO) Freshman Dawson Appleton from Copan, Okla., had a big night in Weatherford, Okla., claiming the buckle for calf roping and edging out freshman teammate Dawson Turner, from Sidney, Ark., by just 0.1 seconds and Sophomore Ben Piazza from Twin Oaks, Okla., by 0.5 seconds. The sweep helped propel the NEO Men’s Rodeo Team to a third-place overall finish and a first-place finish among two-year colleges.

Sophomore Ethan Griffin from Jay, Okla., continued to prove why he’s second in the region in team roping, securing a third-place finish. Freshman Ty Kirby from Liberal, Mo., also made the top-ten with his performance in calf roping.

The weekend before the SWOSU Rodeo, the team was in Garden City, Kan., for the Garden City Community College Rodeo. Griffin and Kirby had an impressive showing, with Griffin claiming sixth and Kirby claiming second in calf roping. Appleton put his name all over the leaderboards by making the short-go in calf roping and teaming up with Pathways Junior Rio Esquibel from Edna, Kan., to make the short-go in team roping. Freshmen Lane Watson from Hampton, Mo., and Ty Wilks from Lancaster, Ky., also made the short-go in team roping.

“I’m very proud of all the young men and women on the Rodeo Team. All of them have been competing very strong thru this mid-season schedule,” said Head Coach Kolby Ungeheuer. “It was very exciting to win first, second, and third in the tie-down roping at Weatherford and finish first in the men’s two-year college standings. It’s a great way for us to carry a lot of momentum into our final two rodeos of the season. Now we get to the fun part and see if we can qualify for the CNFR this summer!”

NEO Rodeo will travel to two more spring rodeos this season: Fort Hays State University on April 19-20, and Panhandle State University on April 25-27.  (From left: Dawson Turner, Ethan Turner, Ben Piazza, Dawson Appleton, Rio Esquibel, Ty Wilks, and Lane Watson)