Taking advantage

• Ty Tescher

Press Photo by Dustin Monke Dickinson State junior Ty Tescher hangs on for a 76-point bull ride on Friday night during the long round of the Blue Hawk Stampede at the DSU Indoor Arena. Tescher finished second in the round.

Talk about it

When the Blue Hawk Stampede rodeo rolls around, you can usually count on wet weather in the forecast.

“It never fails,” DSU senior Halley Treeby said. “As soon as the rodeo comes around, it is miserable out.”

So this year, instead of competing at the mucky Outdoor Arena — where already wet conditions would have only been accentuated by Friday night’s rain and snow and driven away the fans — the club decided earlier in the week to move things indoors.

What resulted was a fast-paced long round with smooth runs, entertaining rides and a large crowd on the first day of the final Great Plains Region rodeo of the season. The short round begins at 1 p.m. today.

Two of those engaging rides came from DSU saddle bronc rider Riley Knoll and bareback rider Troy Vaira, the national leaders in their respective events.

Knoll was one of only two bronc riders to reach the eight-second time limit and he had an impressive 74-point ride.

“The horse probably wasn’t the greatest,” said Knoll, a junior from Mandan. “But I did my best, got by it and got a score on the board. I hope I can finish off the weekend good.”

Vaira, meanwhile, sat back on his horse and tied David Martin of Iowa Central Community College with a 75 to almost surely lock up the regular-season national title in the bareback riding.

“That horse was perfect,” Vaira said.

While the crowd got to watch Knoll and Vaira show their stuff, very few saw Treeby work her magic.

The former regional all-around champion picked up two winning times during the afternoon slack performance.

Treeby gained ground on Black Hills State’s Joey Painter in the goat tying by posting a winning 5.9-second time. Painter tied for second with a 6.2, allowing Treeby to catch up in the region standings, where they were separated by only 21.5 season points entering the day.

The event’s champion will be determined during today’s short round, where the top 10 finishers from each event on Friday return.

“The best part is, she’s going to have to go before me,” Treeby said of the order during today’s short round. “I’ll know what she does and what I’ll have to be. Knowing Joey, it’s going to be fast. It’ll keep me going hard.

“It’s going to be close. I’m definitely putting pressure on her, which is nice.”

Painter is the national leader in the women’s all-around. Treeby entered the weekend in eighth place nationally. They are first and second, respectively, in the region and are both shoe-ins to qualify for the College National Finals Rodeo.

Treeby also finished in a three-way tie for first in the breakaway roping with ICCC’s Jessica Fisher and South Dakota State’s Taryn Sippel. All three cowgirl had runs of 3.1 seconds.

DSU’s Victoria Netzer will hang on to win the Great Plains Region in the barrel racing despite missing today’s short go. Competing during slack, Netzer had a time of 13.14 seconds on the short course to finish 15th.

Northern State’s Cally Worth and South Dakota State’s Calyssa Thomas tied for the win with runs of 12.5 seconds.

SDSU’s Andrew Coughlin, who leads the region in the bull riding, pushed DSU junior Ty Tescher out of first place with his 81-point performance. Tescher had turned a near buck off into a 76 to move into first place just minutes earlier.

Regional team roping leaders Tyrell Moody and Troy Donnelly of SDSU whipped up a long-round win with a 6.8-second run to secure the season title that was almost a sure thing already.

Black Hills State’s Tye Hale won the tie-down roping with a time of 9.5 seconds during slack to edge region leader Justin Zwiefel’s 9.8-second run.

Hale also grabbed the win in the steer wrestling during the night performance with a brisk 4.5-second turn.

Zwiefel, from SDSU, has locked up the season title in the tie-down roping. DSU’s Isaiah Pemberton was third on Friday with a time of 10.3 seconds.

Blue Hawk Stampede

Notes: Top 10 finishers are listed where applicable. The Top 10 in the timed events and all roughstock competitors return for today’s short round.

Bareback riding: 1 (tie), Troy Vaira, DSU; David Martin, ICCC, 55. 3, Tim O’Connell, ICCC, 40. 4, Austin Martin, NDSU, 20. 5, Christian Jensen, SDSU, 30. 6, Cory Hershkowitz, ICCC, 10.

Barrel racing: 1, Cally Worth, NSU, 12.50. 2, Calyssa Thomas, SDSU, 12.50. 3, Joey Painter, BHSU, 12.53. 4, Presley Hamann, ICCC, 12.62. 5, Halley Treeby, DSU, 12.70. 6, Hilary VanGerpen, SDSU, 12.71. 7, Ashley Schaper, DSU, 12.82. 8, Taryn Sippel, SDSU, 12.83. 9, Alyssa Slinn, DSU, 12.85. 10, Alisha Madison, SDSU, 12.89.

Breakaway roping: 1, Halley Treeby, DSU, 3.1. 2, Jessica Fisher, ICCC, 3.1. 3, Taryn Sippel, SDSU, 3.1. 4, Ashley Schaper, DSU, 3.2. 5, Megan Steiger, BHSU, 3.2. 6, Kristen Lawrence, BHSU, 3.2. 7, Joey Painter, BHSU, 3.5. 8, Taylor Holliday, UNE, 3.6. 9, Courtney Sletten, NDSU, 3.7. 10, Mamie Kieson, DSU, 3.8.

Bull riding: 1, Andrew Coughlin, SDSU, 60. 2, Ty Tescher, DSU, 50. 3, Jake Bode, SDSU, 40. 4, Jobie Dryden, SDSU, 30.

Goat tying: 1, Halley Treeby, DSU, 5.9. 2, Joey Painter, BHSU, 6.2. 3, Stacy Doll, DSU, 6.2. 4, Shandel Yardy, BHSU, 6.6. 5, Jessie Bateman, NDSU, 7.5. 6, Brandee Wardell, SDSU, 7.7. 7, Kelly Kohle, UNE. 8, Taylor Holliday, UNE. 9, Jamie Britton, BHSU, 8.2. 10, Courtney Sletten, NDSU, 8.3

Saddle bronc ridng: 1, Riley Knoll, DSU, 60. 2, Ross Odde, SDSU, 50.

Steer wrestling: 1, Tye Hale, BHSU, 4.5. 2, P.J. Painter, USD. 3, Pat Cowan, SDSU, 4.9. 4, Justin Zwiefel, SDSU, 4.9. 5, Tyler Nelson, SDSU, 5.1. 6, Matt Wznick, DSU, 6.5. 7, Logan Wier, UWIRF, 7.8. 8, Richard Coats, HC, 9.6. 9, Chase Albers, LATI, 10.0. 10, Clint Holmes, MTI, 10.0.

Team roping: 1, Tyrell Moody and Troy Donnelly, SDSU, 6.8. 2, Andy Otto, NDSU and Will George, ICCC, 6.9. 3, P.J. Painter, USD and Dillon Wickum, DSU, 7.4. 4, Jamie Britton, BHSU and Logan Nehl, DSU, 7.8. 5, Mamie Kieson, DSU and Jase Clarke, SDSU, 8.3. 6, Kyle Wilson and Kasey Till, BHSU, 8.4. 7, Tyle Hale, BHSU and Dalton Richter, MTI, 10.6. 8, Taylor Shoemaker and Sam Olson, BHSU, 11.9. 9, Cody Hilzendeger and Jake Baumann, DSU, 12.3. 10, Joey Painter, BHSU, and Lane Alley, WDTI, 12.4.

Tie-down roping: 1, Tye Hale, BHSU, 9.5. 2, Justin Zwiefel, SDSU, 9.8. 3, Isaiah Pemberton, DSU, 10.3. 4, Will George, ICCC, 10.8. 5, Tanner Wznick, 12.1. 6, Luke Schubert, SDSU, 12.2. 7, Jase Clarke, SDSU, 13.2. 8, Layne Carson, DSU, 14.7. 9, Blake Baade, SDSU, 15.1. 10, Kyle Wilson, BHSU, 15.8.

Tags: blue hawks, college rodeo, sports, rodeo