East Mississippi men's rodeo team stands 18th nationally after first-place finish at Southern Arkansas event

MAGNOLIA, Ark. – The East Mississippi Community College men's rodeo team closed out the fall portion of the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association's Ozark Region schedule in winning fashion by collecting first-place team honors this past weekend at Southern Arkansas University.  The three-day rodeo event concluded Saturday night at Story Arena on the SAU campus.

Now ranked 18^th nationally with 1,850 total team points, head coach Morgan Goodrich's EMCC men's squad edged out host Southern Arkansas by 10 points, 435-425, in the fall finale, while also out-distancing Top 10 nationally ranked foes Tennessee-Martin (370 points) and Missouri Valley College (275).

The victory marked East Mississippi's sixth overall team win since the program's inception in 2010.  The EMCC men previously claimed first-place team honors in the 2014 Northwest Mississippi Community College event as well as in 2012 at Troy University and in 2010 at the University of West Alabama.  The EMCC women captured a pair of team titles during last year's rodeo campaign at Missouri Valley College and Cossatot Community College.      

At Southern Arkansas this past week, East Mississippi benefitted from a 1-2 finish in the tie down roping competition as 2014 National High School Finals Rodeo All-Around Cowboy Marcus Theriot and Cooper Christensen, from North Pontotoc High School, each earned 130 points in the event.  The reigning Mississippi High School Rodeo Association Boys All-Around Champion, Theriot also collected 135 points for his second-place finish in the steer wrestling event at SAU.  While winning his second men's all-around individual title of the fall season, the Poplarville native also advanced to Saturday's team roping finals with partner Lane Mitchell from UT Martin.

Former Kossuth High School product Kody Rinehart also contributed to EMCC's winning team effort by securing 40 points in the saddle bronc riding competition.

Midway through the 2015-16 rodeo season, the East Mississippi men's team stands 18^th among the NIRA's national standings and third in the Ozark Region behind second-ranked Tennessee-Martin and No. 5 Missouri Valley College.  On the women's side, EMCC ranks sixth as a team within the Ozark Region with 620 total points.  Just 45 points behind fifth-place Three Rivers College in the region, the EMCC women did not score this past week at Southern Arkansas.

Individually for EMCC, Theriot ranks second nationally in the men's all-around competition with 985 total points.  Along with rating as the NIRA's No. 7 team roping header, Theriot stands eighth nationally in steer wrestling and 14^th in tie down roping.

For the East Mississippi women, Katelyn Nicholson, from Lawrence, leads the Ozark Region standings in barrel racing at the midyear mark with 500 points to rank eighth nationally.