Page leads USU in home rodeo
Besides having to face the teams of the Rocky Mountain region Friday and Saturday, the Utah State rodeo club had to deal with some angry livestock too.
“We didn’t do quite as well this weekend as we did the previous two weekends, but we still earned points for both the men’s and women’s team,” Jeffery Hall, coach and adviser to the team, said about their performance.
“None of our team did real well this weekend,” sophomore Derik Page, president of the club, said. “I guess you can say it might have been a bit of a hometown curse.”
Even though the team as a whole didn’t have the best showing, individuals were able to strengthen their positions in the region. Page competed in the bareback ride. On Friday night he drew a horse by the name of Gunsmoke and was able to ride him for those eight long seconds.
He received a score of 55,which put him into the top 10. The top 10 from Friday night and Saturday afternoon returned Saturday evening for the finals. Page was able to make another ride and hold his spot at third place in the Region.
“Hopefully, I can maintain that spot,” Page said. “My goal is to qualify for Nationals because last year, up to the last rodeo I could have made it, but I had some bad rides and drew some bad horses.”
With the less than average showing, the club still remains very optimistic. It was only the third rodeo of the season and the Aggies are a very young team this year. With seven more rodeos to go, things are looking up for them.
“You never know what can happen with a young team, but we’ve got some wonderful things in front of us,” Hall said.
Other club members who performed well were the women’s team captain Sara Sulser and Chase Erickson.
At the end of the year the top men’s and women’s teams qualify for the national finals. The top three in the individual events also qualify for the finals.
-mlglade@cc.usu.edu