East Mississippi Community College to host collegiate rodeo March 21-23 at West Point’s Eagle Ranch

SCOOBA – Exciting collegiate rodeo action is coming to Mississippi's Golden Triangle.  For three days starting this coming Thursday, the city of West Point will be the temporary home for some 350 collegiate cowboys and cowgirls from four-year universities and two-year community colleges, including host East Mississippi Community College, traveling from the states of Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Missouri and Tennessee.

Hosted by EMCC at West Point's Eagle Ranch, the three-day (March 21-23) collegiate rodeo will mark the third event of the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association's 2013 Ozark Region spring rodeo schedule.  Performances are slated to begin at 7 p.m. both on Thursday and Friday as well as 2 p.m. on Saturday.  Ticket prices each day will be $10 for adults and $5 for students with children aged five years and younger being admitted free of charge.

On Thursday, all EMCC students, faculty and staff will be admitted free with a valid EMCC ID.  For the children, the three-day rodeo will feature a pig scramble for kids aged five and under along with a calf scramble for those aged 6-10 and a chicken scramble for youngsters between the ages of 11-15.

Competing in long-go and short-go rounds throughout the three-day rodeo, men's events will be held in bareback riding, bull riding, saddle bronc riding, steer wrestling, team roping and tie-down roping.  Women's competition will feature barrel racing, breakaway roping and goat tying.

Along with the EMCC men's and women's teams, the NIRA's Ozark Region features rodeo powerhouses Troy University, the University of Tennessee at Martin and Murray State University, as well as the University of West Alabama, the University of Arkansas at Monticello, Southern Arkansas University, Missouri Valley College, Three Rivers College, Cossatot Community College and Northwest Mississippi Community College.

In the current NIRA national standings, the UT Martin men's team presently ranks second nationally behind the College of Southern Idaho.  The Missouri Valley College men's squad currently stands 18^th nationally after finishing third at last year's College National Finals Rodeo held in Casper, Wyo.  On the women's side, Troy and Southern Arkansas stand 14^th and 19^th, respectively, among the NIRA's national standings.

Ranked third in the 2012-13 Ozark Region men's standings behind UT Martin and Missouri Valley College, the EMCC Lions are preparing for next week's West Point event by competing in this week's regional rodeo being held at the University of Arkansas at Monticello.  Most recently, the EMCC men and women, guided by head coach Morgan Goodrich, placed third and fifth, respectively, at last month's spring opener hosted by Cossatot Community College in Texarkana, Ark.  The EMCC men concluded the fall campaign by claiming the second team rodeo title in the program's three-year history at Troy University in Alabama.