![\"CNFR](\"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/65\/2023\/05\/CNFR-Qualifier-Image.png\")
Driver, the regional breakaway roping champion, also was reserve champion in the all-around. A kinesiology major in her junior year, she captured top honors at the Texas Tech Rodeo and was second at the Tarleton Stampede and the Howard College Rodeo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She also had two top-three finishes as a barrel racer \u2014 a second at Vernon and a third at Clarendon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Teammate Felton was reserve champion breakaway roper at both Eastern New Mexico and Sul Ross State. A freshman business finance major, she\u2019s from Fallon, Nev.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pinkston, a communication studies major from Stephenville, TX, qualified for her first CNFR as a freshman by finishing third in the Southwest Region. She took runner-up honors at the season-ending Tarleton Stampede and at WTC, and was fourth at Clarendon and Sul Ross.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Representing Tarleton from the defending national champion men\u2019s team will be saddle bronc rider Gus Gaillard, team roping headers Wyatt Bray and Korbin Rice, and tie-down roper Wyatt Crandall, the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association Southwest Region student director.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gaillard, a sophomore agribusiness major from Morse, Texas, is the 2023 regional reserve champion saddle bronc rider. One of the most consistent performers in the region, he posted event titles at the Western Texas College and Ranger College rodeos, and finished in the top 10 eight times during the 2022-23 season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bray and Rice took the two top slots in the final regional team roping header standings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bray, a senior marketing major from Stephenville, won the event twice in \u201920-\u201923, at rodeos hosted by Vernon College and Clarendon College, and made the finals at five stops. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rice finished second at Ranger, Vernon and Clarendon, and earned spots in the short go five times. He\u2019s a general business major from Hobbs, N.M.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tie-down roper Crandall, a senior animal science major from Spanish Fork, Utah, finished 10th<\/sup> in the region, making the finals in three rodeos and winning third at Howard and Clarendon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n More than 400 participants from more than 100 colleges and universities compete for NIRA crowns in saddle bronc riding, bareback riding, bull riding, tie-down roping, steer wrestling, team roping, barrel racing, breakaway roping and goat tying. National team championships are awarded to both men\u2019s and women\u2019s teams. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Contestants compete all year in one of the NIRA\u2019s 11 regions for a chance to rope or ride at the annual CNFR. The top three students in each event qualify, as do the top two men\u2019s and women\u2019s teams from each region.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" STEPHENVILLE, Texas \u2014 Tarleton State University\u2019s rodeo program is sending eight competitors to the College National Finals Rodeo, June 11-17 in Casper, Wyo. Goat tier Tori Brower, breakaway ropers Jordan …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54,"featured_media":48909,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[382,425],"tags":[455],"class_list":["post-48907","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-homepage","category-campus-community","tag-rodeo"],"acf":{"image":false},"author_meta":{"display_name":"priddle","author_link":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/author\/priddle-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2\/"},"featured_img":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/65\/2023\/05\/CNFR-Qualifier-Image-1.png","coauthors":[],"tax_additional":{"categories":{"linked":["_Homepage<\/a>","Campus & Community<\/a>"],"unlinked":["_Homepage<\/span>","Campus & Community<\/span>"]},"tags":{"linked":["Rodeo<\/a>"],"unlinked":["Rodeo<\/span>"]}},"comment_count":0,"relative_dates":{"created":"Posted 3 years ago","modified":"Updated 3 years ago"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Posted on May 1, 2023","modified":"Updated on May 3, 2023"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Posted on May 1, 2023 1:40 pm","modified":"Updated on May 3, 2023 9:13 am"},"featured_img_caption":"Eight people in cowboy hats and purple vests, Tarleton State University logo in the background.","series_order":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48907","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/54"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48907"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48907\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48909"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48907"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48907"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48907"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}