MCC to host annual rodeo this weekend

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

Gates open at 5 p.m. both days, with performances to begin at 6 p.m.

The arena also will host a free slack competition at 9 a.m. Saturday.

An addition to the Mesalands squad, teams competing at the rodeo will be Central Arizona College, New Mexico State University, Cochise College, Dine College, Navajo Technical College and the University of Arizona.

MCC’s Stampede team is last of the region’s standings with 100 points — the product of an inexperienced team and a new coach.

“They’re young … green,” coach Bo Segerman said, who replaced MCC coach Matt Hughes in April after he departed to coach the new Missouri State University-West Plains rodeo program.

“I didn’t have very long to recruit. But they’re working hard. They’ll get there.”

Segerman, a former NMSU assistant coach, hails from Touchet, Washington. In college, he competed in bronc riding, team roping, calf roping and steer wrestling and qualified for the National College Finals Rodeo in 2011 and 2012.

Segerman said one of his athletes with a good chance to take home a championship buckle this weekend is Rachel Sova, a freshman breakaway roper from Newell, South Dakota.

He said James Zehrung, a sophomore from Dalhart, Texas, also has a chance to excel in bareback riding and team roping competitions.

NMSU leads the region’s standings through Sept. 30 with 1,710 points.

“They’ve got a good set of girls right now,” Segerman said of NMSU. “And the bronc riders that I had, they’re a step above.”