CASPER, Wyo. -- The third try was the charm for Missouri Valley College saddle bronc rider Kirk Nelson.

The junior from Sanborn, Minn., had twice earlier made it to the College National Finals Rodeo, only to come away empty-handed. Finally, he made it to the Saturday championship performance at Casper, Wyo., and put together a solid ride to earn all-America distinction.

Led by head coach Ken Mason (bottom row, far left), the Ozark Region champion Missouri Valley College men's rodeo team finished 27th out of 61 schools at the College National Finals Rodeo. (Dan Hubbell/NIRA) [Click to enlarge]

With three solid mounts to his credit, Nelson went into the finals ranked 11th among the 12 qualifiers, but finished seventh with 64.0 points while five others didn't complete their rides. Considering that the previous two years, Nelson had only stayed up on two of his three preliminary attempts -- placing 31st in 2006 and 28th last season -- seventh was no small achievement.

Freshman Will Smith would have taken it. He had two good rides, his 78.5 in the second go-round the third-best overall out of 141 attempts in the meet -- putting him temporarily in the lead -- but a miss on his third try sent him into the limbo of a 12th-place position going into Friday night's completion of the round.

Unfortunately for Smith, three riders passed him -- although not the one who was then closest to him in points -- and he wound up in 14th place.

A similar fate befell sophomore bareback rider David Clapp. Tied for ninth place near the end the third go's completion, Clapp had to watch five opponents put up numbers good enough to shuffle him back to 14th place -- as one of seven riders who scored on all three tries.

Sophomore Kyle Brennecke's final resting spot was 25th place, having come back from a no-score in the first round with two solid showings. Brennecke was three for three a year ago to come in 16th.

Sophomore steer wrestler Jake Shaw, whose second go was a wash, wound up in 27th place after coming in 14th last year and senior Cooper Link -- a 2007 all-American, in ninth place ¬-- settled for 17th place due to being thrown in two of his three attempts.

The Vikings improved from 34th place with 115 points last year to 27th place at 160 this time around -- and should return five of their six entries.

The team Valley beat for the NIRA Ozark Region championship, Tennessee-Martin, finished third with 520 points -- only 47.5 points behind runner up Western Texas and a long way from Walla Walla (Wash.) Community College, which took the title with 740 points.