After finishing third at the Panola College Rodeo last weekend, Sam Houston State’s women’s team is ranked No. 2 in the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association Southern Region.

In the NIRA Southern Region standings, Sam Houston has earned 1,145 points. Texas A&M; is ranked No. 1 with 1,168.

Meanwhile, Sam Houston’s men’s team is ranked fourth in the regional title race with 1,731. Wharton County Junior College is ranked No. 1 with 2,739.5.

Sam Houston’s men finished fourth at the Panola College Rodeo.

In the regional women’s break-away roping standings, Sam Houston’s Ashley Lauren Moreau has a commanding lead. She is ranked No. 1 with 536 points.

In the goat tying title race, Sam Houston’s Kaki Kay Herring is ranked fourth the regional standings with 392.5.

In team roping, Sam Houston’s Chase Michael Taylor and Cade Holmes Rice rank second in the regional standings.

The Panola College Rodeo was the fifth of 10 regular season shows scheduled during the 2009-10 NIRA Southern Region regular season. The season will resume during the spring semester.



Cutting horse update — Within the National Cutting Horse Association, two types of competition coexist: aged events and weekend shows.

Aged events feature horses ages 3 through 6 and the shows often are conducted in larger communities such as Fort Worth and Abilene. Weekend events are usually held in smaller communities and they mostly feature horses who graduated from the aged-event circuit.

But during the next three weeks, aged-event competitors and weekend warriors will be on display at Will Rogers Memorial Center in Fort Worth.

The Borden Milk NCHA Futurity features the sport’s most promising 3-year-olds in their debut. Competition began Nov. 21 and runs through Dec. 13 at Will Rogers Memorial Coliseum.

The Futurity features open, non-pro and amateur competition. The Dec. 13 open division finals is the first jewel of the sport’s Triple Crown Series.

The NCHA also has scheduled its finals for weekend stars in conjunction with the Futurity. The Mercuria Energy NCHA World Finals began Nov. 24 and runs through Saturday at the Will Rogers W.R. Watt Arena.

That competition will feature the sport’s top 15 open and non-pro competitors from the 2009 regular season.

NCHA executive director Jeff Hooper said that adding the World Finals to the Futurity “makes a big event even bigger.”

“It’s like saying, ‘We’re going to play the World Series and the Super Bowl in the same place, on the same weekend,’” Hooper said. “People who like the best cutting horses can come see both the rising stars and the living legends of the sport.”

The Futurity and World Finals come along just as the NCHA has reached an all-time high membership of 20,255, according figures compiled by the association Nov. 4.

For more information, visit www.nchacutting.com.



PBR update — Two weeks after completing its 2009 World Finals in Las Vegas, the Professional Bull Riders began its 2010 Built Ford Tough Series.

The first tour stop was Nov. 20-22 in Duluth, Ga. The Ford Series’ season opener was held in conjunction with the Copenhagen Bull Riding Challenger Tour Championship, a finale for the PBR’s lower tier tours.

Brazilian Guilherme Marchi, the PBR’s 2008 world champion who lives near Dallas, won the Ford Series segment and earned $210,000. North Carolina rider J.B. Mauney finished second in the Ford Series competition, but won the Challenger tour title. Mauney pocketed $78,750.

Many of the top cowboys who competed at the Georgia show also will ride in the Dickies Iron Cowboy Invitational, which is scheduled for Feb. 20 at Cowboys Stadium.

For more information, visit www.pbrnow.com.



PRCA update — Monty Lewis, the 2004 world champion tie-down roper from Hereford, tore the medial collateral ligament in his knee during a match roping in San Angelo last month, and injured his left shoulder when his horse fell and recently rolled over him earlier this month. However, Lewis told the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association he plans to compete in the Dec. 3-12 National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas wearing a knee brace.