East Mississippi opens spring rodeo campaign with second-place men's team finish in Arkansas

TEXARKANA, Ark. – Spurred by the arrival of impact newcomers, the East Mississippi Community College men's rodeo team opened the spring campaign with a second-place team finish at the UA Cossatot Collegiate Rodeo held this past weekend at the Four States Fairgrounds.  The EMCC women tied for seventh at the three-day rodeo hosted by Cossatot Community College of the University of Arkansas.

With sophomore Colt Fisher winning the calf roping competition and teaming with Justin Pruitt to claim the team roping title in their EMCC debuts, the Lions totaled 540 points to finish 65 points behind men's team champion Tennessee-Martin.  Missouri Valley College and Southern Arkansas University finished third and fourth, respectively, with 330 and 320 points.

A transfer from McNeese State University, Fisher earned 170 points by posting times of 9.0 and 9.8 seconds to edge out Tennessee-Martin's Ben Walker in the calf roping event.  The Sulphur, La., native also scored 170 points when teaming with Pruitt, an Arkansas native, as the tandem recorded a pair of 6.1-second efforts to easily win the team roping competition.

With nine men and two women making it back to the short-go round, the Lions had four team roping pairings advance through the long-go competition. 

The EMCC women tallied 80 points with freshmen Kory Ann McCuiston and Katelyn Nicholson earning 40 points apiece in the goat tying and barrel racing events, respectively.

Murray State University won the women's team competition with 380 total points, followed by Southern Arkansas and Three Rivers College at second (200 points) and third (170), respectively.

Coach Morgan Goodrich's East Mississippi rodeo teams will compete at the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association's next Ozark Region event slated for March 6-8 at the University of Arkansas at Monticello.