College rodeo: Wyoming well represented at 2025 CNFR
Top collegiate rodeo athletes from all corners of the U.S. will converge at the Ford Wyoming Center in Casper for the 2025 College National Finals Rodeo (CNFR) June 15-21.
The top two schools in each of the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association’s 11 regions will send full six-man or four-woman teams, and the top three scorers from each region in each of the nine events will make the trip to Casper, as well.
Among those competing for a prestigious national champion title are a tough bunch of athletes representing the Central Rocky Mountain Region (CRMR) and the state of Wyoming.
This year, the University of Wyoming (UW) will send two full rosters to the CNFR after an impressive regular season for the both the Cowboys and Cowgirls.
The UW Men’s Rodeo Team swept the CRMR, finishing first with 5,445 points, which has them sitting 10th in the national standings as they enter finals week, while the UW Women’s Rodeo Team finished second in the region with 3,464.33 points, putting them fourth in the nation.
Other Wyoming teams taking a full roster to this year’s finals are the Casper College Men’s Rodeo Team, which finished second in the region with 4,558.33 points and 18th in the national standings, as well as Gillette College’s women’s team, which finished the regular season with a total 3,748.33 points, landing them second in the national standings.
Wyoming women
A handful of impressive female athletes are set to make Wyoming proud at this year’s CNFR.
Haiden Thompson, a Yoder native who dons Gillette College’s navy vest, finished the regular season as the reining CRMR All-Around Cowgirl and topped the nation in the All-Around standings as well.
Sitting first in the region and second in the nation, Thompson will compete in goat tying, alongside UW Cowgirls Josie Mousel of Colman, S.D. and Riata Day of Fleming, Colo.
Thompson’s teammate Ashlyn Goven, a Gillette native, will run the barrels at this year’s national finals against UW Cowgirls Emme Norsworthy of Thermopolis and Rayne Grant of Wheatland.
Fellow UW Cowgirls Landry Haugen of Sturgis, S.D. and Jordyn McNamee of Cheyenne will have a go in the breakaway roping, alongside Chadron State College’s Brooke McCully of Mullen, Neb.
Rough stock athletes
Rough stock events at the 2025 CNFR will feature several CRMR athletes as well.
For the second year in a row, a trio of Casper College cowboys led the region in saddle bronc riding, all three of which are sitting in the top 20 in the national standings.
James Perrin of Maple Creek, Saskatchewan, Canada finished first in the region and second in the nation, followed by Eastan West of Hereford, S.D., who sits eighth in the nation and Malcom Heathershaw of Quinn, S.D., the 15th saddle bronc rider in the nation.
Fellow Casper College Cowboy Monte Downare of Hartsel, Colo. will compete in the 2025 CNFR Bareback Riding, alongside Cooper Filipek, a representative of Gillette College from new Underwood, S.D. and Colton Farrow, a UW Cowboy from Greybull who is sitting third in the national standings.
Additionally, UW Cowboys Emmit Ty Ross of Jackson and Stefan Tonita of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada will represent the Cowboy State in the bull riding, alongside Central Wyoming College (CWC) Bull Rider Brahmer Gaehring of Coutts, Alberta, Canada.
Ropers and wrestlers
A dozen of the region’s best will take a shot at a national champion title in the men’s roping events during the 2025 CNFR.
Gillette College’s Dalton Porch, a cowboy from Kadoka, S.D. sitting eighth in the nation, topped the CRMR tie-down roping. Northeastern Junior College’s Tate Talkington of Scottsbluff, Neb. and Cory Bomhoff, a Cheyenne native representing Laramie County Community College, will also compete in the event.
In the team roping, Headers Bodie Mattson, a UW cowboy from Sturgis, S.D.; Gillette College’s Trevor Sorge of Garrison, N.D. and Cade Gines, a Powell native representing CWC, will represent the CRMR.
Roping the heels will be UW’s Troupe Coors of Loveland, who is sitting 10th in the national standings; Tel Sorenson, a Gillette College cowboy hailing from Watford City, N.D., and CRMR All-Around Cowboy Jace Mayfield of Midwest.
Donning CWC’s bright red vest, Mayfield will also make an appearance in the 2025 CNFR Steer Wrestling, alongside UW’s Jacob Wang of Baker, Mont., who is sitting fifth in the national standings, and Rhett Witt, a fellow UW cowboy from Valentine, Neb.
Hannah Bugas is the managing editor of the Wyoming Livestock Roundup. Send comments on this article to roundup@wylr.net.
