MPCC Rodeo Team scores men’s championship in North Dakota

Members of the Mid-Plains Community College Rodeo Team finished out the fall with the three best days of competition they’ve had all season.

The athletes competed at a doubleheader at the Dickinson State University Blue Hawk Stampede Thursday through Saturday in Dickinson, N.D. 

MPCC took the men’s team championship during the first rodeo, and the women’s team placed fourth.

Rex Day, of Bartlett, scored the men’s all-around title after winning the team roping and splitting second and third in the steer wrestling.

His teammate, Quade Potter, of Stockville, also earned the championship in the steer wrestling with a 4.4 second run.

Potter and Aluxyn Hollenbeck, of Valentine, placed eighth in the team roping – just behind Jentri Hurlburt, of Arcadia, and Barrett Schlieker, of Fort Lupton, Colo., who were sixth.

Schlieker tied for fourth, fifth and sixth in the steer wrestling with Dalton Kunkee, of Lexington, and Koby Jacobson, of Haiku, Hawaii, split seventh and eighth. Jacobson was also third in the bull riding.

Caitlyn Comfort, of Elwood, came in third in the breakaway roping, and Andrea Meyer, of Stapleton, was fifth in the goat tying.

During the second rodeo, Nick Rettinger, of Amidon, N.D., was eighth in the average in the tie-down roping and third in the steer wrestling.

Kunkee ranked fifth in the steer wrestling followed by Jacobson, who was ninth, and Kaden Wooters, of Elwood, who finished 10th.

Hurlburt was sixth in the breakaway average. She split second in the short go with a time of 2.4 seconds.

Makana Kaapana, of Kailua, Hawaii, won the short go bull riding jackpot, but didn’t place in the average.

“The men’s team put a great rodeo together for Dickinson State Rodeo number one,” said Wyatt Clark, MPCC timed events coach. “I’m proud of the team’s performance this fall season. Many of them have some good points built up, and we have some good opportunities to get some tickets punched for Casper in the spring.”