EMCC earns pair of runner-up individual finishes at Pearl River rodeo

POPLARVILLE — In the second rodeo of the spring season, East Mississippi Community College placed fourth in men's action and tied for sixth on the women's side during last weekend's event hosted by Pearl River Community College.  The three-day rodeo concluded Saturday night at the Pearl River County Fairgrounds Arena.

Missouri Valley College swept both team competitions, out-distancing Tennessee-Martin, 980-385, for the men's championship and edging Arkansas-Monticello, 315-290, for the women's title.  EMCC finished the PRCC competition with 280 men's points and 110 women's points.

For the EMCC men, West Smith (Emmet, AR) collected 150 points for a second-place finish in the tie-down roping event with times of 10.8 and 9.5 seconds.  He also tallied five points by pairing with West Alabama's Cooper Malone in team roping.

Myles Neighbors (Benton, AR) claimed the Lions' other 125 points by placing third in tie-down roping behind Smith and also scoring in the steer wrestling event.

In women's competition, Blair Bryant (Hatchechubbee, AL) led the way for EMCC by garnering women's all-around honors with 195 individual points earned in two events.  In addition to finishing second (125 points) in breakaway roping with efforts of 2.8 and 3.0 seconds, Bryant earned 70 more points while teaming with Kody Boatright of Arkansas-Monticello in team roping.

EMCC's team points on the women's side were earned by Mikayla Joh Almond (Olin, NC) and Jaylie Matthews (Wynne, AR) in breakaway roping and barrel racing, respectively.

In their third straight week of NIRA Ozark Region competition, Coach Morgan Goodrich's East Mississippi's rodeo teams will compete in this week's (April 1-3) event hosted by the University of Arkansas at Monticello.