East Mississippi to host collegiate rodeo this week at The Ranch in West Point

SCOOBA -- Dust off your cowboy boots and grab your Stetson for three nights of bronc-busting, bull-riding, steer-wrestling excitement. Between 200 and 300 college cowboys and cowgirls will compete this week during a National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association (NIRA) sanctioned event sponsored by the East Mississippi Community College rodeo team, with assistance by Luke Lummus Rodeo Productions.

This is the fourth year EMCC has hosted the annual three-day event at The Ranch in West Point, formerly known as Eagle Ranch. Beginning Thursday evening, gates open nightly at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $10 at the door and $5 for students. Admission is free for children age 5 and younger.

Students from 13 colleges and universities in the NIRA's Ozark region will compete in bareback riding, tie-down roping, breakaway roping, saddle bronc riding, steer wrestling, goat tying, team roping, barrel racing and bull riding. Contestants hail from colleges in Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas, Tennessee, Missouri and Michigan.

This is the Ozark region's first of five rodeos slated for the spring portion of the 2015-16 college rodeo season. The contestants compete for points at each event in hopes of making it to the "Rose Bowl" of college rodeo – the College National Finals Rodeo in Casper, Wyoming, which takes place June 12-16.

"Since this is the first rodeo of the spring, it is important because the kids want to jump out front and set the tone for the rest of the year," EMCC Head Rodeo Coach Morgan Goodrich said.

Competition is expected to be stiff. Goodrich said most college rodeo athletes have been in the sport for most of their youth. EMCC has 22 members on the rodeo team and boasts some top talent. Lawrence native Katelyn Nicholson, for example, is ranked first in the NIRA's Ozark region and 12^th nationally in barrel racing.

Some of the students also compete at the professional level. Such is the case with EMCC's Marcus Theriot of Poplarville, who is currently ranked first in the men's all-around division of the NIRA's Ozark region and second place nationally.

Theriot, who is the son of 1994 PRCA world champion tie-down roper Herbert Theriot, is ranked 14th in the world in tie-down roping by the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association.