News

The NEO Rodeo Team has completed its fall season and is celebrating several successes. Among the top awards, the men’s rodeo team recently finished first at the Northwestern Oklahoma State University rodeo in Alva, Okla. The women’s team took fourth place at the rodeo. One standout from the women’s team is Rilee Proffitt, a freshman in nursing from Knoxville, Iowa, who has made a short-go at every rodeo event for the fall season. Proffitt is a barrel racer and by making a short-go, she has placed in the top ten of each rodeo. Jenny Earp joins Proffitt as one of NEO’s barrel racing competitors. Earp placed top ten at the Alva, Okla. rodeo.

Among the men, Tylen Layton, a junior in the Missouri State Pathways Program from Copan, Okla., has made a short-go in calf roping in three of the four rodeos, finishing as high as third at the Alva, Okla. rodeo. Other top ten finishers Quinton Inman and Dillon Sherrick join Layton. The three ropers were also invited to the 2015 Indian National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas. In the tie down roping event, Sherrick took high point, Layton placed third, and Inman placed fifth.

With the fall season now over, both the NEO men’s and women’s teams are ranked second among two-year colleges. The teams compete in the Central Plains Region of the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association. The body includes eight four-year colleges and eight two-year colleges. “I’m very proud of this team,” said Kolby Ungeheuer, Synar Farm manager and rodeo coach. “We lost several veteran team members last year and this young team has really stepped up,”

The rodeo team now gears up to host the NEO Alumni/Recruiting Rodeo. The event will take place on Nov. 21, 2015 starting at 10 a.m. at NEO’s Synar Farm. Tickets are $5 for adults, children 12 and under are free. For more information about the NEO rodeo program, contact Gentry Hutchison at gentrsh@neo.edu