Five former Cowboys to compete in NFR

Five of the top 15 professional steer wrestlers competing at this week's National Finals Rodeo (NFR) are former University of Wyoming rodeo club team members.

They are K.C. Jones, Decatur, Texas; Casey McMillen, Craig, Colo.; Jason Miller, Lance Creek; Les Shepperson, Midwest; and Todd Suhn, North Platte, Neb. The bulldoggers will compete in the NFR year-end competition Dec. 4-13, in Las Vegas at the Thomas and Mack Center at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

Cowboys from across the United States and Canada work all year to qualify for the NFR, the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association's (PRCA) premier championship, referred to as the "Super Bowl of Rodeos."

The NFR is held each December in Las Vegas, attracting the top regular season finishers in each event who qualify for the NFR and compete for prize money totaling more than $5.5 million.
The NFR features the top 15 competitors in each of professional rodeo's seven events: saddle bronc riding, bull riding, bareback riding, calf roping, team roping, steer wrestling and the only women's event, barrel racing.

Shepperson has the highest ranking (seventh) among the former UW Cowboys team members entering this week's NFR. Miller, last year's national champion, is currently eighth; McMillen 10th; Suhn 14th; and Jones qualified as the final contestant in 15th place.

Shepperson, who last competed for UW in 2000, comes from a long line of rodeo competitors. His father, Frank, won the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association steer wrestling title for UW in 1964 and captured the PRCA world title in 1975. Les' sister, Amy, won the College National Finals Rodeo (CNFR) breakaway roping championship for the UW Cowgirls in 1999.

Suhn won the CNFR bulldogging title for UW in 1996; Miller last competed for UW in 1997; McMillen in 2000; and Jones in 1992.

Also qualifying for this week's NFR is former UW Cowboy Mike Moore of Kankakee, Ill. Moore, who last competed for UW in 1996, is ranked 12th in the latest bull riding world standings.

Three from UW to be at Intercollegiate Horse Show Association region event

What do Elizabeth Kinnally, Lauren Heisel and Brittany Waltz have in common?

They're all going to represent the University of Wyoming equestrian club at the Intercollegiate Horse Show Association (IHSA) Zone 7, Region 1 Hunter Seat Regionals in March at Denver.

Three weeks after Kinnally became the first UW rider to qualify for regionals, Heisel and Waltz pointed up at last weekend's eight-team event hosted by the University of Nebraska-Omaha.
"It's really exciting for us to already have three riders qualified for regionals" said UW Coach Kari Randle. "They've all worked really, really hard for this and I'm so proud of them."

At Omaha, Heisel (Story) reached the regional qualifying mark in the intermediate flat class and Waltz (Anchorage, Alaska), the team president, qualified in the open flat category.

UW also received strong efforts from Kristen Erickson (Moorhead, Minn.), Jessica Ford (Casper), Mccabe Jones (Dillon, Colo.), Stephanie Pruitt (walk-trot), Tessia Steingrebe (Longmont, Colo.), and Liz Webb (Gaithersburg, Md.), said Randle.

Bolstered by her performance, Pruitt moved within a single point of joining Kinnally (Westwood, N.J.), Heisel and Waltz at the regional competition.

In the team standings, UW placed second to Colorado University in Saturday's show and finished fourth during Sunday's show.

Following a 12-week holiday break, UW returns to IHSA competition Feb. 14-15 at a western riding event in Curtis, Neb. Randle says three UW riders -- Erickson, Jones and Katie French (Plymouth, Minn.) -- are on the verge of qualifying for the regional western show, slated for Feb. 21-22 at Lincoln, Neb.