Team roping tandem of Colt Fisher and Justin Pruitt to represent EMCC rodeo at CNFR in Wyoming

SCOOBA – For the fourth consecutive year since the program's inception in 2010, East Mississippi Community College will be represented in the prestigious College National Finals Rodeo.  The 66th annual CNFR will begin Sunday and continue through next Saturday (June 21) at the Casper Events Center in Wyoming.

Coach Morgan Goodrich's EMCC rodeo team will be represented by the sophomore transfer tandem of Colt Fisher (Sulphur, La.) and Justin Pruitt (Greenbrier, Ark.) in the team roping event.  Ranked second regionally in the team roping header and heeler categories, respectively, Fisher and Pruitt are slated to begin competition during Monday's first-go round.  Their second-place Ozark Region standing within the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association was aided by back-to-back team roping titles at Arkansas-Monticello and UA Cossatot to open EMCC's spring schedule.    

At last year's CNFR, East Mississippi finished in 35^th place as a team for the second straight year on the strength of Riley Grisham's fourth-place showing in the team roping event with Ben Runyon of Missouri Valley College.  The year prior, former EMCC cowboy Will Lummus single-handedly earned EMCC a 35^th-place tie by collecting 80 points in the steer wrestling event at the 2012 CNFR.

Lummus, a former two-year letterman at EMCC, will be making his fourth straight CNFR appearance as a second-year member of the rodeo team at the University of Tennessee at Martin.  The Oak Hill Academy product is scheduled to compete in the steer wrestling and calf roping events during this week's College National Finals Rodeo.  Lummus is currently ranked as the Ozark Region's top steer wrestler this season and is rated second regionally in the men's all-around for the nationally seventh-ranked UT Martin Skyhawks.

EMCC's previous representation at the CNFR on the women's side came two years ago when former (Macon) Central Academy product and current Southern Arkansas University cowgirl Kellie Hailey competed in the breakaway roping and goat tying events after claiming the 2012 women's all-around championship of the NIRA's Ozark Region.  

The College National Finals Rodeo is where the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association (NIRA) annually crowns individual event champions in saddle bronc riding, bareback riding, calf roping, steer wrestling, bull riding, team roping, barrel racing, breakaway roping, and goat tying.  The top three student-athletes in each event and the top two men's and women's teams from each of the NIRA's 11 regions annually qualify for the CNFR.  With more than 400 cowboys and cowgirls from over 100 universities and colleges expected to compete individually in Casper this coming week, national team championships will also be awarded in the men's and women's divisions.

Results from this week's College National Finals Rodeo will be updated daily and available on the NIRA's website, www.collegerodeo.com.