CASPER, WY – The Laramie County Community College rodeo team was busy on Monday at the College National Finals Rodeo with three athletes competing in four events.
The morning featured Rayne Grant who was making her second appearance in breakaway roping and her debut in barrel racing.
Grant had a stellar start in barrels and as the 13th out of the gate helped to set the pace with a 14.27 that held up for a tie for ninth place in the first go. She finished just outside of points with those going to the top eight positions each go.
The morning wasn’t done, and Grant continued to impress those in attendance with a blistering 2.2 in her second breakaway attempt, which midway through the second go is tied for fourth place in the go.
Grant said it felt good to perform the way she knows she can.
“I felt happy to get the first run out of the way,” Grant said. “It was nerve-wracking for sure, but today felt really good. It was a fun experience for sure and I feel like I completed the process better.”
“She didn’t let yesterday affect her,” Head Coach Dean Finnerty added. “She came back and competed well and is sitting at the top of almost everything.”
The Wheatland, Wyoming native added that this has been a dream for her to compete at since she was a kid.
“I’ve watched my mentors compete here in the past when I was little, and I always wanted to compete here and it’s a really cool opportunity to have.”
Kassidy Dunagan made her first appearance at the Ford Wyoming Center in goat tying and she had a strong showing as well, finishing with a 7.4 and putting herself in 25th place after the opening round.
“It felt great getting the first one under me,” Dunagan said. “All the anticipation really builds up and it’s good just to get it all out.”
The final showing for LCCC rodeo came from Reece Wadhams who teamed up with Rio Nutter for the final time in their college careers. The duo got a tough draw that was able to nose it’s way out of the loop from Nutter and the pair finished with a no time.
“Reece didn’t have as much luck after his header waved one off but they’ve still got two more so things can still change and go better,” Finnerty said.
There was some good news though, as the pen wasn’t kind to very many of the team ropers, and the field only saw 14 total put up a score.
The Golden Eagles will be back on the arena floor for the Tuesday slack session tomorrow morning beginning with Grant returning to for her second go in barrel racing starting at 7:00 am. Dunagan and Wadhams will follow in goats and team roping respectively.
Performances begin on Tuesday night, but LCCC will have to wait until Wednesday night when Grant and Dunagan have their final goes in both breakaway and goat tying. Grant will have her final barrel race on Thursday night with Wadhams closing out the scheduled performances on Friday night.
Performances will all be streamed online at ESPN+, and for full updates be sure to check out www.golccc.com or LCCC Athletics social media.