Bull rider Winston Cheek paces East Mississippi to 25th-place team finish at College National Finals Rodeo in Wyoming

CASPER, Wyo. – Highlighted by Winston Cheek's Saturday night finals appearance in the bull riding competition, East Mississippi Community College achieved a school-best national team finish for the second consecutive year at the College National Finals Rodeo held this past week at the Casper Events Center in Wyoming.

By virtue of his second-go victory earlier in the week with an average score of 76.5, Cheek was one of a dozen bull riders to advance to Saturday's championship round.  The Kosciusko native finished in sixth place nationally after none of the 12 finalists were able to cover their respective bulls for the required eight seconds during Saturday's finals.  Cheek's bull riding efforts earned 125 points to give the EMCC men's team a program-best, 25^th-place national finish.     

Cheek was honored for his second-go win in bull riding during Wednesday night's ring presentation ceremonies, marking the second straight year EMCC cowboys have been rewarded with go-round rings.  At last year's CNFR, East Mississippi's team roping tandem of Colt Fisher and Justin Pruitt also claimed go-round honors to earn rings and lead the Lions to a 28^th-place national team finish.    

Having now competed in the prestigious College National Finals Rodeo all five years since the program's inception in 2010, head coach Morgan Goodrich's EMCC rodeo team was also represented in last week's CNFR by fellow sophomore bull rider Justin Reeves and sophomore cowgirl Kelsey Kennemer.  As EMCC alums competing in Casper this past week, former EMCC cowboy Scooter Scarbrough represented the University of West Alabama in the tie down roping competition, while current Arkansas-Monticello team member Martin Walker partnered with Kennemer in the team roping event.  In addition, East Mississippi signee Kody Rinehart, who competed independently for Blue Mountain College, participated in saddle bronc riding at nationals.  

As this year's all-around women's reserve champion within the Ozark Region of the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association (NIRA), Kennemer paired with Walker to place 31^st nationally in team roping with a time of 9.4 seconds in the first go.  A transfer from Troy University by way of West Limestone High School in Alabama, Kennemer also finished 24^th nationally in the barrel racing event with a collective time of 43.56 seconds during the three rounds.  

In other men's competition at last week's CNFR, East Mississippi's Reeves, a Newton Academy product, did not score in the bull riding competition.  Scarbrough, a product of Simpson Academy, placed 26^th in tie down roping by securing West Alabama's 10 team points during his two successful rounds totaling 23.5 seconds.

The team champions during the 2015 College National Finals Rodeo were Tarleton State University (TX) on the men's side with 915 points and Blue Mountain Community College (OR) with 517.5 points in the women's competition.  The men's and women's all-around individual champions from last week's CNFR were Landon Williams of Tarleton State and McNeese State's Kirsten Smith, respectively.