East Mississippi men finish third while hosting NIRA Ozark Region rodeo in West Point

WEST POINT – Host East Mississippi Community College placed third in the men's team competition this past weekend to kick off the spring portion of the collegiate rodeo season.  The three-day competition, the first of five National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association Ozark Region events to be held this month, concluded Saturday night at Eagle Ranch in West Point.

Highlighted by a first-place individual effort and a pair of second-place showings, the EMCC men totaled 390 points to place third behind perennial college rodeo powers UT Martin (525 points) and Missouri Valley College (425).  UT Martin also claimed the women's team title with 375 points over runner-up Southern Arkansas (300).

EMCC sophomore Kody Rinehart, a product of Kossuth High School, earned 150 team points in winning the saddle bronc riding competition.  The Lions' other 240 team points were collected by nationally ranked cowboy Marcus Theriot, who placed second in both the steer wrestling and team roping events to earn the men's all-around title for the third time this season.

Theriot, from Poplarville, posted an impressive 5.1-second clocking in the short-go round of steer wrestling to total 19.7 seconds and finish second behind UT Martin's Robbie Van Holten.  The 2014 National High School Finals Rodeo all-around cowboy also grabbed runner-up honors by partnering with UTM's Lane Mitchell in team roping.  Bolstered by a 6.8-second, first-round effort, the tandem totaled 20.3 seconds to place second behind the duo of Kory Ann McCuiston and Savannah Warner from Three Rivers College and UT Martin, respectively.

Coach Morgan Goodrich's East Mississippi rodeo squad will compete this week (April 7-9) at the University of Arkansas at Monticello, before heading the following week (April 14-16) to the University of Tennessee at Martin.