Hill College men’s rodeo team won home rodeo and remain #1 in region and in top 5 in nation

  Hill College
  Tuesday, March 27, 2018 4:08 PM
  General Events, Athletics

Hillsboro, TX

Hill College men’s and women’s rodeo teams hosted the 33rd annual home rodeo this past weekend, March 23-24. Nearly 400 student athletes from 11 colleges and universities from Texas and Louisiana who represent the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association’s (NIRA) Southern Region competed in the rodeo. 

The Hill College men’s rodeo team won the rodeo with 472 points, McNeese State University was second with 431.5 points and Wharton Community College was third with 400.5 points. The men’s team remain number one in the southern region standings and in the top five in the national standings after this rodeo. The women’s rodeo team is in sixth place in the region standings. 

Hill College dominated the bareback riding event, with Colby Fedor, a freshman from Grandview, winning the event with a score of 79 points; Zack Hibler, a sophomore of Wheeler, placing third with a score of 75 points; and Tim Murphy, a sophomore of Simpsonville, S.C., placing fourth with a 68 point score.

In the tie-down roping Jon Douch, a sophomore from Huntsville, won the event with a time of 8.6 seconds and Cooper Mathews, a sophomore from Cleburne, had a 9.7-second run and placed seventh.

In the breakaway roping, Brooke Jordan, a sophomore from Covington, had a 2.4-second time and placed third. 

Douch also placed fourth in the steer wrestling event with a 5.3-second run and Tanner Fleet, a sophomore from Axtell, had a 5.7 time and placed sixth. 

In the team roping event Ross Ashford, a freshman of Lott, was a heeler on the winning team, roping behind a Texas A&M University header with a time of 4.7 seconds. Hill’s Colton Brittan, a freshman from Rockwall, heels behind a North Texas Community College cowboy and had a 5-second run and placed second. Fleet and Laney Newman, a sophomore from Fairfield, had a 7.1-second run and placed sixth in the event.

Additionally, Douch won the all-around cowboy title for the rodeo earning 233 points and Fleet placed third in the all-around earning 100 points for the rodeo.

Schools competing at the rodeo include: Texas A&M University, Sam Houston State University, McNeese State University, Texas A&M University-Commerce, Texas A&M University-Kingsville, Louisiana State University-Alexandria, Stephen F. Austin State University, Northeast Texas Community College, Panola College, Wharton County Junior College, Southwest Texas Junior College, Trinity Valley Community College and Hill College.

The Hill College men’s team is currently leading in the men’s team Southern Region standings with 4,535.33 points followed McNeese State University with 4,186.99 points. Panola College has slipped to third place in the regional standings with 4,133.83 points and North Texas Community College is in fourth place with 1,929.33 points.

The final college rodeo of the season, April 20-21 at Wharton County Junior College, will be the deciding factor as the top two men’s and women’s teams and top three individuals from each region will qualify to compete at the College National Finals Rodeo (CNFR) in Casper, Wyo., in June. 

Currently, in the bareback riding, Zach Hibler, a sophomore from Wheeler, is leading the southern region standings and Fedor is third, Mitchell is eighth and Murphy is ninth. In the tie-down roping, Douch is winning the region, Mathews is fifth and Fleet is ninth. In the breakaway roping, Jordan is in fourth in the regional standings. In the saddle bronc riding Jarrod Hammons, a sophomore from Stephenville, is fourth and Logan Decker, a sophomore from Burleson is setting eighth. In the steer wrestling event, Douch is setting fifth and Fleet is eighth. In the team roping standing for headers, Cyle Denison, a freshman from Iowa, La., is fifth in the standings. In the heeling standings Brittan is in second, Ashford is in third and Clay Sieber, a sophomore from Troup, is in fifth. In the bull riding, Ezkiel Mitchell, a sophomore from Baytown, is first in the southern region standings. 

For more information on Hill College rodeo, visit www.hillcollege.edu/athletics.

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