Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
Some of the best collegiate rodeo athletes in the Southwest will compete Friday and Saturday during the Mesalands Community College Grand Canyon Region Intercollegiate Fall Rodeo at the Quay County Fairgrounds rodeo arena in Tucumcari.
The Grand Canyon Region encompasses nine colleges or universities in New Mexico and Arizona. About 250 to 300 athletes will compete for prize money and a trophy buckle during the weekend.
Host Mesalands is bringing 23 athletes to the event, including the No. 3 bull rider in the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association’s permit standings and New Mexico’s high-school champion bull rider.
The first performance is 6 p.m. Friday. Slack performances, or athletes who didn’t get the draw for the Friday performance, begin at 9 a.m. Saturday. The finals begin at 6 p.m. Saturday and should last a little more than two hours.
Tickets are $5 except for the free slack performances. Senior citizens are admitted for $2. Children plus Mesalands students, faculty and staff are admitted free.
Mesalands rodeo coach Matt Hughes said one of his best athletes is sophomore Levi Gray of Dairy, Oregon, who has earned $30,000 this year on the bull-riding circuit and is ranked third in the PRCA’s permit standings. Rodeo is the only collegiate sport in which athletes can earn money at professional events.
“He’s definitely one of the up-and-coming bull riders,” Hughes said. “He’s projected to be a world champion. Anyone who follows rodeo, they’re going to want to know who that kid is, for sure. He’ll be in the National Finals Rodeo next year.”
Many other athletes quickly would go pro after winning that much prize money, but Hughes said Gray knows his experiences at Mesalands have benefited him.
“He wouldn’t have won that $30,000 if it wasn’t for the practice we’ve been giving him,” Hughes said. “I think he realizes that.”
Mesalands also has on its roster freshman Vanell Mariano, who won the New Mexico high school state championship last year in bull riding.
Mesalands has planned a week of activities for students, called Stampede Week, leading up to the Fall Rodeo. For more, go to mesalands.edu/stampedeweek.
