Mesalands to host its annual rodeo this weekend

Mesalands Community College will host its 14th annual Grand Canyon Region rodeo on Friday and Saturday at the Quay County Fairgrounds rodeo arena in Tucumcari.

Stampede coach Matt Hughes said he’s optimistic this weekend’s event will give his team a chance to overcome a slow start. His men’s and women’s teams each were in fourth place in the regional standings through Sept. 26 after competitions at Dine College and Cochise College, both in Arizona.

Hughes said Andy Guzman and Marco Juarez, who both previously have qualified for the National College Finals Rodeo in bull riding, were thrown off at the last moment during the season-opener, then competed at a professional rodeo in Florida they had committed to months before.

“This will be the first rodeo in which we’ll have our full roster entered,” he said of the Tucumcari event. “We’re going to be adding several new students; two are from Australia, and they’re pretty talented and should be an asset to the team.

“I look for this rodeo at home to get things kicked off and light a spark for our team. In team roping, we have a handful of teams that are as good as anybody’s but started slow. We have five or six tiedown ropers, and three of them are as good as anybody. Just about every event, we have a handful of athletes who can win it.”

Other schools in the region that will be competing at the rodeo this weekend are Central Arizona College, New Mexico State University and Navajo Technical College.

Bryan Tyler Huey of Mesalands was in second place in the region of the saddle bronc riding standings with 170 total points, behind only Zachary John Dallas’ 245 points for NMSU.

Stampede teammate Clinton Willoughby was in fourth place in that event with 60 points.

Other Mesalands rodeo athletes who are ranking in the regional standings:

• Cameron Jon Senegal, seventh in tie-down roping with 90 total points and ninth in steer wrestling with 20 points;

• Shea Grogan, seventh in goat tying with 88 points;

• Rachel Bartlett, 11th in breakaway roping with 45 points.

The opening ceremony begins at 6 p.m. Friday, with a slack performance at 9 a.m. Saturday. The championship performance will be at 6 p.m. Saturday. Gates open both nights at 5 p.m.

The event will feature a performance by professional rodeo clown and barrelman Dustin “The Jester” Jenkins.

Ticket prices nightly are $10 for adults, $5 for youth age 12 and older and free for children younger than 12 or Mesalands students. The slack performance Saturday morning is free.