East Mississippi men place fourth at regional rodeo event hosted by Arkansas-Monticello

MONTICELLO, Ark. – A pair of individual event titles lifted the 17^th-ranked East Mississippi Community College men's rodeo team to a fourth-place finish this past weekend at the Weevil Stampede UAM College Rodeo.  Hosted by the University of Arkansas at Monticello, the three-day event concluded Saturday evening at the Drew County Fairgrounds.

EMCC's 475 total points were just 35 points behind nationally third-ranked Missouri Valley College's 510 points.  The University of Tennessee at Martin and Southern Arkansas University tied for men's team championship honors with 535 total points apiece.  

For the EMCC Lions, reigning College National Finals Rodeo All-Around champion Marcus Theriot, of Poplarville, claimed UAM's tie down roping championship by collecting the maximum 180 points with times of 8.6 and 8.0 seconds.  Also earning top individual honors for EMCC, freshman Jace Harris partnered with Southern Arkansas' Cooper Lee to win the team roping competition (150 points) after posting times of 6.2 and 5.3 seconds.

Harris, from Vilonia, Arkansas, also picked up 65 points with a fourth-place tie in the tie down roping event.  Also scoring for East Mississippi was Kemper Academy product Jacob Watt, who placed fifth with 70 points in steer wrestling.  In addition, sophomore Cooper Christensen and teammate Brandon Callen picked up EMCC's other 10 points in team roping.

In women's team competition, Southern Arkansas prevailed with 345 total points, followed by host UAM and Missouri Valley with 280 and 205 points, respectively.

Coach Morgan Goodrich's East Mississippi rodeo teams will be back in National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association (NIRA) Ozark Region action this weekend (April 6-8) at the UT Martin-hosted event beginning Thursday in Martin, Tennessee.