 "Photo: Photo courtesy of Craig Kelley")
 "Photo: Photo courtesy of Craig Kelley")
Texas Tech's Men's Rodeo team took six students to compete in the 61st College National Finals Rodeo June 14-20 in Casper, Wyo.
According to the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association Web site, Tech's 22-member men's team placed second in the Southwest Region, allowing six team members to attend the national event, where they placed 19th.
Logan Allen, a senior agricultural leadership major from Crescent, Iowa, said he was proud to be part of the six-person team that attended the national competition.
"I'm glad we got a chance to compete," he said, "and next year we plan to win the region and go on to win the nation, too."
The regional competition consisted of 10 rodeos, he said, in which Tech's team competed well enough to move onto nationals. The team's sixth-place rank in 2008 did not allow them the chance to compete in nationals.
Allen competed with Chance Honey, Jeremy Krywcun, Jake Brown, Jay Manning and Stetson Rasberry, he said.
Rasberry, a senior business management major from Roby, finished second in both the first and third rounds and sixth overall in bull riding at the national competition.
He was proud of his results, he said, as well as the results of the team as a whole, however, he was looking forward to doing better at next year's competition.
"Everybody goes to win," he said, "so I guess I was a little disappointed that I didn't come out number one."
The team did not do as well as they could have, he said, because of the stock drawn for the competition. Judges randomly select the animals used by the competitors, a process known as drawing stock.
Half the score consists of the animals used to compete, the other half consists of the competitor's performance.
"We've got some really good guys on the team," he said, "we just drew really rough stock. Good or bad, it's the game."
He also competes professionally, and said he has done well in minor league Professional Bull Riding competitions.
Erica Creswell, a junior psychology major from Weatherford, Okla., agreed with Rasberry, and said stock has a lot to do with performance.
"Not everything you draw you can win on," she said. "You can be prepared, but you also need to draw well."
The only woman to travel to Wyoming from the Tech team, she said she was excited for the opportunity to compete at the national level. Creswell placed third in the region in breakaway roping and third in the all-around competition. Although she was pleased with the women's team's fifth-place win, she said she has higher hopes for next year's competition.
"We'd rather be first or second instead of fifth," she said, "and that's what we're shooting for next year. I think we can win the region next year and that's everyone's goal."
Chris Guay, the team's coach, said he is proud of Texas Tech's representation at the national and regional events because the members of the team are successful in every area of life.
He said he looks forward to seeing the students he coaches compete academically, as well, from engineering to medical fields.
"Texas Tech's Rodeo team ," he said, "has a good group of men and women who will be successful in and out of the arena."
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