ENMU women ninth, men 11th at Odessa rodeo

DESSA, Texas — The Eastern New Mexico rodeo team picked up 2019 right where it left off in 2018, putting nine of its competitors in the final round of competition Saturday at the Odessa College Rodeo.

The women’s team scored 50 points to finish in ninth place overall, while the men were 13th with 35 points in the first rodeo of the spring semester for both teams.

The total short-go qualifiers — six women and three men — was the highest total for the Greyhounds so far this year.

Clovis sophomore Catherine Hisel led four Greyhound women in the breakaway roping finals, and finished third in the average. She posted a 2.8 in the long round to just barely qualify for the short round, but a 3.4 vaulted her up the leaderboard in what proved to be a difficult final round.

The short go was so full of “no time” finishes that ENMU sophomore Molly Griffin ended up placing fifth in average despite incurring a 10-second breakout penalty in her final round performance. She posted a long round 2.5 and a final round 11.9 with the penalty.

Neither sophomore Hannah Hughes nor freshman Kaitlyn Doughty posted a time in the final round. Doughty qualified with a 2.4 in the long go, while Hughes scored a 2.8.

Senior Shannon Jackson was eighth in the short go and the average in goat tying, going 7.3 seconds in the first round and 7.9 in the short go. Harley-Ann DeLeeuw tied for sixth place in the barrel racing short-go for at 14.51 seconds, but did not place in the average.

All of the men’s team points were scored by sophomore Trey Jackson, who tied for third place in the long round of ... He failed to record a time in the short go.

Luke Hisel and Wesley Gudgell tied for ninth place in the long round of team roping at 7.1 seconds, but posted a no time in the finals.

The team will have a few weeks off before competing again at the Ranger College Rodeo March 21-23.