EMCC men close out fall rodeo slate with second straight team runner-up finish

MURRAY, Ky. — The East Mississippi Community College men's rodeo team closed out the fall portion of the Ozark Region schedule this past weekend with a second-place finish at the 47^th annual Murray State University College Rodeo. The three-day event concluded Saturday at the Bill Cherry Expo Center.

The fall-ending event marked EMCC's second straight men's team runner-up finish after beginning the 2022-23 rodeo season with three consecutive third-place showings.

The Lions were once again led by the brother tandems of Cooper and Cade Cowan (Lamar, MS/Marshall Academy) and Wyatt and Colton Allen (Dadeville, AL) in the team roping competition. With 275 of EMCC's 435 team points collected in team roping, the Allens placed third on the strength of their second-place effort of 5.5 seconds in the first round. The Cowans, the current Ozark Region team roping leaders and reigning participants in the College National Finals Rodeo, collected 160 combined points for their fifth-place finish at Murray State.

Also in team roping, EMCC's Roper Stoots (Louisville, MS) paired with Missouri Valley College's Nate Pelke to earn 35 individual points.

The Lions' top team point producer individually this past weekend was Tanner Brown (Florence, MS), who collected a runner-up finish in the tie-down roping event. His second-place run of 9.6 seconds in the opening round helped secure 130 team points.

EMCC's Gavin Lee (Poplarville, MS) contributed 30 total team points by finishing among the scorers in bareback riding and steer wrestling.

The EMCC women's team did not place among the scoring teams at Murray State.

The Missouri Valley College men's team and the University of West Alabama women's team both made it a clean sweep by prevailing in all five of the Ozark Region's fall rodeo events. The nationally second-ranked MVC men outscored EMCC, 675-430, while UWA topped MVC, 375-240, in the women's competition.

Coach Morgan Goodrich's East Mississippi Community College rodeo teams are slated to begin the second half of the 2022-23 Ozark Region schedule by hosting the spring opener, March 16-18, at the Lauderdale County Agri-Center in Meridian. The remainder of the five-event spring rodeo slate will include stops at Pearl River CC (March 23-25), Arkansas-Monticello (April 6-8), Tennessee-Martin (April 13-15), and Northwest Mississippi CC (April 27-29).