Team roping success highlights EMCC’s rodeo weekend at UT Martin

MARTIN, Tenn. — East Mississippi Community College had four team ropers earn top-four individual finishes during last week's 56^th Annual UT Martin Rodeo held at the University of Tennessee at Martin. The three-day event concluded this past Saturday at the Ned McWherter Agricultural Complex.

In team competition, the EMCC women placed third with 155 total points, while the EMCC men finished in seventh place with 210 team points. The Missouri Valley College men (840 points) and the University of West Alabama women (530 points) won the respective team titles at the UT Martin rodeo.

For the Lions, reigning College National Finals Rodeo (CNFR) participant Tanner Brown (Florence, MS) led the way by pairing with former EMCC teammate Laine Moore, who currently competes for Northwest Mississippi, to finish as runners-up in the team roping competition. The tandem posted times of 8.2 and 7.4 seconds to secure 130 points each for their respective teams.

Also in team roping, the EMCC pairing of cowgirl Ryleigh Parker (Hayesville, NC) and cowboy Colton Mewbourn (Mathiston, MS) placed third with 100 points apiece after posting a winning run of 8.0 seconds in the first round of the event.

In addition, EMCC's Carson Powell (Benton, AR) paired with Arkansas-Monticello's Kody Boatright to earn a fourth-place team roping finish with 80 points each.

On the women's side, EMCC's Leslie Scroggins (Benton, AR) earned the team's other 55 points with a fifth-place showing in breakaway roping after tying for first-place honors with a 2.8-second effort in the opening round of the event.

Rounding out EMCC's scoring participants at the UT Martin rodeo was Roper Stoots (Louisville, MS), who earned 45 individual points in the tie-down roping competition.

Head coach Morgan Goodrich's East Mississippi rodeo teams return to action during this week's NIRA Ozark Region event, April 18-20, at the University of Arkansas at Monticello.