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Tech women's rodeo team takes eighth at national finals

After competing for a week at the College National Finals Rodeo, Texas Tech finished eighth in the women's team title race.

Throughout the seven-day championships, which concluded late Saturday night at the Casper Events Center, all four of Texas Tech's team members earned title race points in various rounds and the team earned the eighth place finish after accumulating 235 points.

The University of Nevada-Las Vegas won the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association 2008 women's team title with 470.
It was the first time that Texas Tech's women have finished in the top 10 in the team standings under 11-year coach Chris Guay, who has steadily worked to build the program. Texas Tech's men's team finished seventh 2005.

"For us, it was a team effort and not an individual effort," said Romany Gordon, a senior who finished ninth in the nation in barrel racing after qualifying for the final round. "We have a lot of team spirit for Texas Tech and the university and that bound us all together."

Texas Tech's Heather Turner also advanced to Saturday's finals, which featured the top 12 in each event. Turner finished 10th in the national goat tying race.

The other team members who competed in preliminary rounds were Kelsy Friskup, a break-away roping competitor from Muleshoe, and Tiana Thornton, a barrel racer who is from the San Angelo area.

In the men's national team title race, Western Texas College finished second after accumulating 5671/2 points. Walla Walla (Wash.) Community College convincingly won the title with 740.

Western Texas benefited from the efforts of saddle bronc rider Cody Angland, who finished second in the national title race. Brad Pierce, another Western Texas competitor, came in sixth in bull riding.

Both Western Texas and Texas Tech advanced to the Casper championships after winning season team titles in the NIRA Southwest Region, which is billed as a very tough conference.

Guay said Texas Tech thrived on mature competitors. Gordon, Turner and Thornton are seniors and Friskup is a junior.

"They've been there and done that, and they've been in these types of pressure situations," Guay said.

Friskup, who tied for fourth in the second round of break-away roping, said the team's experience made a big difference.

"We've all been around the rodeo arena for quite a while, and we know what to expect," Friskup said. "We probably know a little more about what's going on than an underclassmen, and I think that gave us an advantage."

The team titles are decided on the basis of points earned by each team member throughout the first, second, third and final rounds and the final aggregate standings at the College National Finals. No regular season points counted.

"There's a lot of pressure here at the finals," Guay said "It's like it's the playoffs and the World Series at the same time."

Texas Tech got off to a booming start early on at the CNFR and was ranked second with 235 points (105 behind leader UNLV) going into Saturday night's finals. But, Texas Tech failed to earn points during the last performance and dropped to eighth.

Nevertheless, Texas Tech assistant rodeo coach Phil Barnes said the "They gave 100 percent."

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