BIG SPRING, Texas — Rayme Jones captured first place in goat tying and Hadley Tidwell took the barrel racing championship as Tarleton State University’s women’s rodeo team dominated in the weekend National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association (NIRA) Howard College Rodeo in Big Spring.

Tarleton State’s women accumulated 345 points, more than doubling runner-up Frank Phillips College’s 165.

Jones flashed an 8.4, tied for the top time in the long go with teammate Emily McDeavitt, then added an 8.6 in the finals for a 17.0 total. McDeavitt added a short-go 8.9 for a second-place 17.3. Tori Brower completed a top-3 sweep for Tarleton State with her 8.5-8.9–17.4.

Keni Labrum took sixth with her two-head 18.1 and Rylee Holt added a 10th-place 18.5 to give Tarleton State five slots in the top-10.

Tidwell’s barrel racing event crown came with her 33.5 combined time which featured a 16.56 in the preliminary round and a 16.94 in the finals. Peyton Stone finished third with a 17.33-17.08­–34.41 and Acey Pinkston’s 17.2-17.72–34.92 was good for fifth.

Tarleton State’s men, led by saddle bronc rider Ira Dickinson’s tie for the event title, finished second at Big Spring.

Dickinson scored a two-head 161.5, featuring a long-go best 81, to tie Western Texas College’s Carson Bingham atop the saddle bronc leaderboard. Tarleton State teammates Lance Gaillard, who tallied a 158 combined score, and Bailey Small, who posted a 149.5 finished fourth and eighth in the event.

Roedy Farrell’s 80-76.5–156.5 was third in bareback riding; Mason Spain turned in a finals-best 82.5 in the bull riding finals for a third-place 157.5 on two head; and Teel Sikes’ 6.1-10.5–16.6 was seventh in steer wrestling.

Both teams are in first place in the NIRA Southwest Region standings heading into the final regular season rodeo, the Tarleton Stampede, this weekend in Stephenville.

A founding member of The Texas A&M System, Tarleton State University is breaking records — in enrollment, research, scholarship, athletics, philanthropy and engagement — while transforming the lives of approximately 18,000 students in Stephenville, Fort Worth, Waco, Bryan and online. For 125 years, Tarleton State has been committed to accessible higher education opportunities for all while helping students grow academically, socially and professionally through programs that emphasize real world learning and address regional, state and national needs.