McNeese Rodeo Team Earns Top Regional and National Rankings 

McNeese State University’s rodeo team capped an impressive fall season with the men’s team in first place in the Southern Region of the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association (NIRA) and ninth in the NIRA national ranking. The women’s team is in third place and two student-athletes are ranked among the nation’s top 10 competitors in their events. 

McNeese dominated the saddle bronc event this fall with Caleb Miller, from Welsh, leading the way with a No. 1 ranking in both the Southern Region and the nation. Five other cowboys are also ranked in the Southern Region, Wyatt Lavergne of Sulphur is second, Jackson Ford of Sturgis, South Dakota, is third, Jace Nixon of Lake Charles is fourth, Izaah Bartels of New Underwood, South Dakota, is eighth and Trent Broussard of Crowley is 11th. 

In the bareback riding Monty Fontenot of Ville Platte is second and Devin Byram of Welsh is ninth in the region. Jude Leonards of Bell City is fourth in steer wrestling. 

Three cowgirls from the women’s team are ranked in the region. Camryn Richard of Moss Bluff is ranked 10th in breakaway roping. In goat tying, Alyssa Gary of LeBleu Settlement is in first place in the region and seventh in the nation, while Andi Wilson of Boyd, Texas, is ranked 10th in the region. 

The first rodeo of the spring season is Feb. 20-21 at Texas A&M University in Bryan, Texas.