Troy University Athletics
Troy Rodeo Set To Compete at North Arkansas
4/5/2007 12:00:00 AM | Rodeo
TROY, Ala. - One week after slumping to third and fourth place finishes respectively at the University of Arkansas-Monticello Rodeo, the Troy University Rodeo teams return to Arkansas this weekend for the North Arkansas College Rodeo in Harrison.
The Troy men finished third at the Monticello event last week and dropped into third place in the Ozark Region standings behind Tennessee-Martin and Missouri Valley College, who won the men's competition last week with a score of 776.6. UT-Martin finished second (595.0) and Southern Arkansas (480.0) was third. Troy scored 390 points to finish fourth in the eight team event.
On the women's side, the Trojans finished third with 260 points behind Missouri Valley (360) and West Alabama (290). Troy still has a 300 point lead over West Alabama in the Ozark Region standings.
The top two teams in the Ozark Region standings at the end of the season qualify for the National Finals Rodeo in June.
"Individually, the guys did well," Troy coach Cliff Toliver said. "The girls have had a great spring and it continued this past weekend. Over the last couple of months, they have really stepped it up in breakaway roping, which was one of our weaker events early on."
The Troy men did suffer a loss when freshman bull rider Cooper Johnson suffered a severe arm injury when he was stepped on by a bull. He had surgery in Little Rock on Sunday and returned to campus this week.
Despite the injury, Johnson finished third in the event with teammate Justin Caylor earning second.
Other scoring performances for the Troy men included a second by Ben Mayworth, a third by Jake Thomas and an eighth by Chris Graham in the calf roping event. Justin Caylor earned a third in the saddle bronc riding event and Mark Weber took seventh in steer wrestling. Weber, Mark Gentry and Andy Seiler all scored with teammates from other colleges in the team roping event.
In the women's competition, Jackie Jacobs finished second in breakaway roping while Randa Dewees took ninth. Mary Owens tied for second in barrel racing for the only other score by the Troy women.
Following the Monticello event, Troy's Zac Dobbins maintained his lead in the men's all-around for the Ozark Region while Clint Keller is in fifth place. Jacobs and Dewees stand second and third respectively in the women's all-around ranking.
