EMCC - Athletics: Sports, News, Players, and Coaches. Go Lions! - East Mississippi's rodeo team places eighth in school-first competition

SCOOBA -- Ushering in a new era of athletics at East Mississippi Community College, the EMCC men’s rodeo team placed eighth at last week’s MVC Viking Stampede Rodeo hosted by Missouri Valley College at the Saline County Fairgrounds in Marshall, Mo.

With a total of 18 schools participating in the men’s competition of the season-opening Ozark Region event, the Lions finished ahead of Northwest Mississippi with 160 team points and were only 10 points behind Southern Arkansas University. Host Missouri Valley, the defending Reserve National Champions, claimed the men’s team championship with 755 points, while the University of Tennessee at Martin finished as runners-up with 495 points.

UT Martin earned the women’s team title with 670 points, out-distancing both Murray State (215 points) and Southern Arkansas (195). EMCC entered three women in the competition, but they were not able to advance to earn team points.

Individually for East Mississippi, freshman D.D. Hunt of Noxubee County High School earned 60 points with a fifth-place in the steer wrestling event. Fellow frosh Will Lummus of West Point’s Oak Hill Academy tied for eighth in steer wrestling to collect 20 points. The EMCC tandem of freshman Jake Pollard (West Point HS) and sophomore Cody Warner (Winston Academy) combined to register the Lions’ other 80 points with a fifth-place finish in the team roping competition.

“I’m very proud of our entire team. With the fact that this probably marked the first time many of them had been off like that, they displayed great responsibility,” EMCC head rodeo coach Morgan Goodrich noted. “We could have placed higher in some events with a little more luck because we were right there. Overall for our first rodeo competition with so many freshmen, we showed a lot of potential. After one or two more rodeos, we should be able to adapt and have it figured out.”

East Mississippi’s rodeo teams travel to Magnolia, Ark., to participate in this week’s (Sept. 30-Oct. 2) Ozark Region competition hosted by Southern Arkansas University.