Cowan brothers lead EMCC Lions to third straight third-place men’s team rodeo finish

SIKESTON, Mo. — For the third time in as many events this fall season, the East Mississippi Community College men's rodeo team claimed third-place honors this past weekend at the Three Rivers College Championship College Rodeo. Presented by Farm Credit of Southeast Missouri and co-hosted by the Sikeston Jaycees, the three-day event concluded Saturday at Art Saunders Arena at the Sikeston Jaycee Bootheel Rodeo grounds.

With the EMCC Lions tying for third place with UT Martin behind men's team runner-up Pearl River CC, all 445 of their team points were earned in the team roping event. Brothers Cade and Cooper Cowan, out of Marshall Academy, claimed their fifth career Ozark Region event title as EMCC competitors and second straight win this fall by collecting the maximum 360 points with winning times of 5.5 and 7.6 seconds. They also earned first-place honors at the West Alabama-hosted event earlier this month in Livingston. Having transferred from Northwest Mississippi CC, the Cowans qualified for this past year's College National Finals Rodeo with a third-place Ozark Region regular-season finish after capturing regional event wins at Southern Arkansas, Murray State and in the 2022 spring-opening event hosted by EMCC in Meridian.

EMCC's other 85 team points were earned by the team roping tandem of Tanner Brown and Koby Sanchez, who collected fourth-place honors with runs of 8.2 and 12 seconds.

Roper Stoots, a transfer from PRCC, garnered 120 individual points by winning the tie-down roping competition with a winning time of 9.9 seconds during the short-go round.

EMCC bull rider Luke Stanley also earned 65 individual points for his opening-round effort.

In addition for the Lions, Laine Moore paired with UT Martin's Cannon Smith in team roping, but the tandem didn't produce any points in advancing to the championship round. EMCC bareback rider Gavin Lee also made it back to Saturday's short go but did not figure in the final scoring.

For the second time this fall, the EMCC women did not place among the scoring teams.

The Missouri Valley College men (720 points) and the University of West Alabama women (505 points) continued their winning ways by prevailing for the third time in as many Ozark Region rodeos this fall with sizable team victories over Pearl River and UT Martin, respectively.

Coach Morgan Goodrich's East Mississippi Community College teams will continue rodeo action at Southern Arkansas University, Nov. 3-5, in Magnolia, Arkansas. The Ozark Region fall rodeo slate concludes at Murray State University, Nov. 17-19, in Murray, Kentucky.