Vikings win Murray State Rodeo, lead Ozark Region at mid-point

MURRAY, Ky. -- The Missouri Valley College men's rodeo team will go into the second half of the season in March atop the NIRA Ozark Region.

The Vikings scored a huge victory last week at the Murray State Rodeo, beating second-place Tennessee-Martin by 300 points (825-525) to pass by the defending champion Skyhawks in the season standings at the halfway mark.

Valley head coach Ken Mason made all the right moves, namely by letting a hot Jake Shaw do his thing. The sophomore from Cocoa, Fla., won the calf roping contest -- to go along with an earlier steer wrestling title -- and teamed with sophomore heeler Adam Gilchrist of Maple Creek, Sask., for second in team roping. Shaw won the all-around cowboy award by racking up 260 points.

The Vikings, third in the NAIA national standings, got another 260 points out of their bareback riders: freshman Will Smith finishing third and Gilchrist fifth, with senior Rylie Hoffman in between them in fourth place -- although not on MVC's official line-up.

Bareback riding was another strength, sophomores David Clapp and Kyle Brennecke coming in second and third for 175 points. Also of note, although not counting towards the team standings, was a fourth place by freshman Jared Kempker and sophomore Brady Wilson in team roping.

The Valley women were fourth with 240 points, but that still allowed them to move past Troy (Ala.) in second place in the region behind Arkansas-Monticello -- which opened up a whopping 910-point lead with its championship.

Junior Casey Chapman of Mechanicsville, Va., the barrel racing winner a week earlier at West Alabama, accounted for 140 of the Lady Vikings' 240 points with a third-place showing -- only .02 seconds off the lead. The remaining 100 points came from junior Callie Agre's third place in goat tying.

Another third-place finish was recorded, although not for team points, by senior Cobie Ward in breakaway roping.