Skylights ride well at 2023 College National Finals Rodeo

This past week in Casper, Wyoming, the Montana State University-Northern women's rodeo team wrapped up the season with the College National Finals Rodeo. After a week of competition at the CNFR, the MSU-N women's team finished 31st in the rodeo with 20.0 total points. After working through ten months of the season, MSU-N head coach Doug Kallenberger believes the Skylights performed well to end the season.

"I felt that we did really well," Kallenberger said. "The competition down there is pretty fierce. We have a great group of kids and the competition across the country is something to see so I thought the kids did really well."

Mikenna Schauer had a strong ending to the season as she finished eighth in breakaway roping with a total time of 29.4. While she faced adversity in her first go with a time of 12.1, she rebounded by recording a time of 2.8 in the second go and a time of 2.6 in the third go. However, she recorded a time of 11.9 in the short go.

Schauer also finished 12th in goat tying with a total score of 26.9. She recorded a time of 6.4 in the first go and a time of 6.3 in the second go. She then recorded a time of 6.6 in the third go and a time of 7.6 in the short go.

Georgia Orahood finished 23rd in breakaway roping with a total time of 6.1. She recorded a time of 3.3 in the first go and a time of 2.8 in the second go. Brittney Cox ended the season by finishing 25th in barrel racing with a total time of 43.89. She recorded a time of 14.45 in the first go, a time of 14.44 in the second go and a time of 15.00 in the third go.

Some riders from the MSU-N men's rodeo team competed at the CNFR as individuals. Ethan Frasier finished 22nd in bareback riding with a total score of 173.0 He recorded a score of 58.0 in the first go, a score of 56.5 in the second go and a score of 58.5 in the third go. Garrett Cunningham finished 31st in saddle bronc riding with a total score of 71.0, which he recorded in the first go.

The Lights and the Skylights were not the only riders to compete at the CNFR this past week. From Montana State University, Paige Rasmussen finished first in goat tying with a total score of 24.3 and Bode Spring finished third in men's all-around with a total score of 100.0 points. As a team, the MSU women's team finished second in the rodeo with 593.3 total points.

The MSU-N rodeo teams are young, so many of the riders that competed at the CNFR should come back for another year. As new riders join the program, Kallenberger believes the returning riders will learn from this year's CNFR and continue to grow as a program.

"I think there's great things to build on," Kallenberger said. "They'll be back again next year with lots of experience and lots of leadership. Same thing on the men's side with lots of leadership and experience coming back so we'll just build on that. And I thought we did a good job recruiting this year so I think we got some really good quality kids coming in next year with some freshmen that should help the team out so I'm excited to see what next year will bring."