Marcus Theriot’s fourth all-around regional title leads EMCC to third-place team finish at UT Martin

Nationally ranked cowboy Marcus Theriot earned his fourth all-around regional title of the year in leading East Mississippi Community College to a third-place men’s team finish at last weekend’s NIRA Ozark Region rodeo hosted by the University of Tennessee at Martin. UT Martin’s 48th annual spring college rodeo concluded Saturday night at the Ned Ray McWherter Agricultural Complex and NW (Doc) Robinson Arena.

Marcus Theriot’s fourth all-around regional title leads EMCC to third-place team finish at UT Martin
April 18, 2016

MARTIN, Tenn. – Nationally ranked cowboy Marcus Theriot earned his fourth all-around regional title of the year in leading East Mississippi Community College to a third-place men's team finish at last weekend's NIRA Ozark Region rodeo hosted by the University of Tennessee at Martin.  UT Martin's 48th annual spring college rodeo concluded Saturday night at the Ned Ray McWherter Agricultural Complex and NW (Doc) Robinson Arena.

Theriot, the 2014 National High School Finals all-around cowboy, collected 335 of EMCC's 415 total team points while scoring in three different events.  The Poplarville native partnered with UT Martin's Lane Mitchell to win the team roping competition with a combined time of 12.3 seconds, including a 5.7-second clocking in the short-go.  Theriot also earned runner-up honors and 120 points in tie down roping while adding 55 points in steer wrestling.

Host UT Martin, now ranked fourth nationally, easily won the men's team competition by amassing 1,245 total points.  Runner-up Missouri Valley College finished a distant second with 440 points.

In the tightly contested women's team competition, Three Rivers College (315 points) edged out both Missouri Valley (300) and Arkansas-Monticello (285).  Coming off their team title from the previous week at the University of Arkansas at Monticello, the EMCC women finished in eighth place at UT Martin with 65 points.  Katelyn Nicholson earned 60 points in goat tying and Destyn Ladner added five points in breakaway roping for the Lady Lions.

EMCC's Theriot, also the reigning Mississippi High School Rodeo Association boys' all-around champion, currently stands third nationally among the men's all-around leaders with 1,600 total points earned during the current rodeo season.  He also previously claimed men's all-around regional titles hosted by West Alabama, Southern Arkansas and EMCC.

Coach Morgan Goodrich's East Mississippi rodeo team competes this week Thursday through Saturday (April 21-23) at Northwest Mississippi Community College in Senatobia.