News

The Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College (NEO) Rodeo Team travelled to Garden City, Kan., and Weatherford, Okla., for the Garden City Community College and Southwestern Oklahoma State University Rodeos in April. During the Garden City event, the men’s team earned fourth overall and the women’s team earned ninth, while at the Weatherford Rodeo, the men took ninth. Freshman Kyle Eike of Glenarm, Ill., earned the top spot in steer wrestling in Garden City, bringing home the buckle after placing first in the average. Several other members of the men’s team earned top five in their events, including Laramie Warren, who placed fourth in tie-down roping and third in the men’s overall standings in Garden City. Logan Robrahn took fourth in bull riding, Nolan Richie placed fifth in tie-down roping, and Dayton Williams made the short-go in tie-down roping at Weatherford. “Kyle Eike was a blazing 9.7 on two runs of competition in the steer wrestling event to win first place,” said Head Coach Kolby Ungeheuer. “He was a whole second faster the rest of the field!”

The women’s team had a buckle winner of their own, with Kasey Tibbs from Elida, N.M., placing first in the average for barrel racing at the Weatherford event. Along with Tibbs, several women made the short-go over the two events, including Gabby Lassiter, who placed second in breakaway roping; Shelby Hicks, who took third in barrel racing; and Camrin Sellars, who tied for eighth in barrel racing at Garden City. Jessica Yeater and Shelby Hicks both made the short-go at the Weatherford Rodeo.

“I’m very proud of this young team,” added Ungeheuer. “It is really exciting and rewarding to have two individual event champions at our regional events! Competing against all the four-year schools, it just never gets easy, but we have kept competing hard each week and consistently having six to ten kids in the finals each week. I’m looking forward to our final events to see if we can have a couple of these great rodeo athletes make it to the CNFR in June.” (Photo from left: Zane Volkman, Logan Robrahn, Shelby Hickes, Nolan Richie, Jessica Yeater, Dayton Williams, Camrin Sellers, Kyle Eike, Gabby Lassiter, Laramie Warren, Kasey Tibbs, Coach Kolby Ungeheuer)