EMCC trio qualifies for College National Finals Rodeo in Casper, Wyoming
On the heels of posting consecutive Top 10 men’s team national finishes, East Mississippi Community College will be represented in next month’s College National Finals Rodeo by a trio of cowboys making a return appearance at the CNFR. EMCC’s Tristan Martin, Jace Harris and Ethan Wheeler have qualified to compete in this year’s CNFR, set for June 10-16 at the Casper Events Center in Casper, Wyo.
SCOOBA – On the heels of posting consecutive Top 10 men's team national finishes, East Mississippi Community College will be represented in next month's College National Finals Rodeo by a trio of cowboys making a return appearance at the CNFR. EMCC's Tristan Martin, Jace Harris and Ethan Wheeler have qualified to compete in this year's CNFR, set for June 10-16 at the Casper Events Center in Casper, Wyo.
Martin, out of Sulphur, La., returns to nationals to compete in steer wrestling after claiming this year's NIRA Ozark Region championship in the event with 655 total points collected during the regular season. The McNeese State University transfer earned 80 points for EMCC during last year's CNFR in the steer wrestling event.
Pacing the Lions to last year's seventh-place national team finish as a reserve champion heeler in team roping, Wheeler returns to Wyoming to again pair with UT Martin header Ross Mitchell. At the CNFR a season ago, Wheeler and Mitchell teamed to claim short-go honors with a winning run of 5.5 seconds, while their composite score of 28.1 seconds during the week collected 180 points for each roper and garnered a second-place national overall finish.
Harris, a sophomore heeler from Vilonia, Ark., will also make a return CNFR appearance in team roping for EMCC. After teaming with Cooper Lee from Southern Arkansas University at last year's CNFR, Harris will this year partner with SAU's Logan Graham.
This season marks the fourth straight year that East Mississippi will have at least three competitors participating in the College National Finals Rodeo. This year's EMCC trio will join former Lion standouts Marcus Theriot (2016 & 2017) and Will Lummus (2011 & 2012) as repeat CNFR participants.
With five competitors making up EMCC's first-ever College National Finals Rodeo team appearance last season, Coach Morgan Goodrich's Lions recorded 425 points to finish seventh overall nationally and first among the 11 teams affiliated with the Ozark Region of the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association (NIRA). The Lions garnered their program-first CNFR team appearance a year ago by finishing as runners-up within the NIRA's Ozark Region with 4,710 cumulative team points earned during 10 regional events split between the fall and spring campaigns.
Two years ago as the CNFR's all-around champion and tie-down roping national champion, Theriot single-handedly amassed 510 points to lead EMCC to a school-best, fifth-place national finish among the 2016 men's team standings.
Annually showcasing more than 400 collegiate cowboys and cowgirls from four-year universities and two-year junior colleges located throughout the country, 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.