LARAMIE, WY – The Laramie County Community College rodeo team wrapped up their season at the Laramie River Rendezvous hosted by the University of Wyoming and it was a fantastic close to the season for the Golden Eagles with a pair of champions and Cory Bomhoff punching his ticket to the College National Finals Rodeo in June.
Bomhoff entered the weekend needing 130 points to qualify for the CNFR and after finishing sixth in the long go he needed to sweep the short go and the average to make a trip to Casper in June.
Cue the fastest time of his career with a 7.6 in the short go which was 2.4 seconds faster than the next time by Tate Talkington of Northeastern Junior College. That was 1.2 seconds faster than he needed to win the average, and the Cheyenne native pulled off exactly what he needed to extend his season.
The win is Bomhoff's second of the spring, also coming away with a win in Gillette to begin the year and gave him a tie for third in the regional standings for the last spot.
Joining Bomhoff as the LRR champion was Shelby Derner in breakaway where the sophomore Golden Eagle entered the short go with a 2.1 in the first round to tie her for third. She posted a 2.3 in the short go for the fastest time of the round and her 4.4 in the average was .6 seconds better than second for a 155-point weekend and a championship buckle.
Sunday was busy in general for the Golden Eagles with every member of the points team making it back in at least one event.
Tate Miller rallied from a 74 on his first bronc in Bareback to post the highest score of the rodeo on his second ride with an 82 that moved him into second in the average on his best ride of his collegiate career.
Miller entered the weekend just 15 points behind third place in the standings, and normally a 130 point weekend would have given him enough to move into the top three, but he was beaten out by his competition for the CNFR as Cooper Filipek finished in the top spot of the first round and the average to claim the final spot in Casper as Miller finished fourth the standings.
Three Golden Eagles made it back to the short go in Steer Wrestling with Bohdi Coombs, Grey Gilbert, and Cannon Campbell all making the top ten after the first go.
Coombs, who will be returning to LCCC as a junior next fall, had the fastest time of the rodeo with a 3.8 in his short go and just was nipped from winning his second rodeo in a row by two tenths of a second. He still picked up 130 points and moved to join Gage Davis in the top five of the regional standings.
Gilbert also put down one of the fastest times of the short go with a 4.2, setting the pace after making it back in 9th with a 5.2 in the long go. He finished fifth in the average to capture 55 points for the team in his final rodeo as a Golden Eagle.
Campbell ended up with an injury to his shoulder on Saturday night but still gave it a go in both of his events on Sunday after making it back in tie down as well but finished with a no-time in both.
It was also a great long go for LCCC in team roping where three teams with Golden Eagles on them made it back for Sunday. Hanna Mendenhall and Gage Davis were in sixth going into the short go after a 7.4 in the long go and the duo added a 9.1 to finish in fifth overall.
Also making it back but failing to catch their steers were Bomhoff and his partner Kevi Broncho of Gillette College and Teige Whitham and his partner Hanny Wyatt from Eastern Wyoming College.
Goat tying also saw a strong showing from LCCC. Makaylee Fischer, who will be heading to Tarlton State College next season, wrapped up her career with LCCC with a fifth place finish and a 6.6 in the short go for the fourth fastest time of the go.
Wacey Day also wrapped up her career as a Golden Eagle and was in line for big points after a 6.7 in the long go but had some horse trouble in her second run and ended up ninth in the average standings.
Both teams wrapped up with strong finishes to the season as well.
The LCCC women finished in third in the regional standings and had an amazing close to the year, finishing in third at the final rodeo and picking up a win at Casper and second place finishes at both Gillette College and the Skyline Stampede hosted by Colorado State University.
The men also closed out the season strong, finishing in fifth place and getting over 350 points at three of the final four rodeos of the year.
Individually, the Golden Eagles had multiple names finishing in the top ten of their events in the regional standings including a pair in the All-Around races where Derner finished in seventh place in the women's standings and Davis finishing in seventh on the men's side.
The Golden Eagles will now turn their attention to the CNFR in June where Bomhoff will be joined by Kassidy Dunagan, who will be competing in goat tying for the second straight year as the CRMR Student Director. Last year she was 1.2 second from qualifying for the short go at the national finals, finishing 14th in the nation.
Information on the Golden Eagles at the CNFR will be released at www.golccc.com as well as on LCCC athletics social media accounts. Draws for the CNFR will be announced in early June.