![\"Tarleton](\"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/65\/2026\/06\/CNFR-Mens.png\")
\u201cThey are really a close group,\u201d Eakin said. \u201cThey practice together, they travel together and most of them live together at the facility. They have all bought into the team concept. They cheer for each other, and that closeness motivates them to do well for each other.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The two-time defending national champs will take 11 riders and ropers to the annual event but will be without Lone Star Region bareback riding champion Devon Moore, who was injured in a pro rodeo in May.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Though he won\u2019t be riding, Moore will travel to Casper to root for his teammates in their bid for another national title. He echoes Eakin\u2019s thoughts on the team members\u2019 commitment to the unit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe have a lot of good camaraderie, a lot of good people,\u201d said Moore, a junior marketing major living in Stephenville. \u201cI attribute that to our coaches. They don\u2019t let us slack; they make sure we put in the work and help us to make each other better. That\u2019s a big deal. It\u2019s really important to how it all works.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Moore\u2019s alternate in the lineup is Jace Lomheim from Hughenden, Alberta, Canada. He finished the regular season in fourth place among bareback riders within the region, turning in six top-10 efforts in 2025-26 including a first in the Vernon College Rodeo and runner-up finishes at the Ranger College Rodeo, the Sul Ross State fall rodeo and the Tarleton Stampede.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He joins a group of fellow bareback riders who form the backbone of a formidable roster of rough stock specialists. Teammate Taylon Carmody finished the season as runner-up in the Lone Star regular season standings, followed by Daxtyn Field, who took third.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Carmody earned five top-five regular-season finishes, including wins at Cisco, Weatherford, and the Tarleton Stampede, while Field made the finals in six of the season\u2019s 10 rodeos, featuring firsts at Ranger and the Sul Ross spring rodeo and second at the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo College Rodeo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Also on the CNFR roster are saddle bronc riders Waitley Sharon, who won the regional crown, two-time CNFR qualifier Montgomery Parsons, Lone Star Region all-around champion Clay Greenslade, bull riders Brenson Bartlett and Zane Monnett, and tie-down ropers Travis Staley, who won the Lone Star Region crown, and Brodey Clemons, who was third on the final regional leaderboard. All-around reserve champ Dalton Porch, who will compete as a calf roper and steer wrestler, rounds out the Tarleton State list of qualifiers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sharon, also making his second appearance in Casper, captured top honors at Weatherford, Pecos, and at the season-ending Tarleton Stampede to earn the regional saddle bronc title. He said high expectations that come from the program\u2019s success motivate him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not like pressure,\u201d he said. \u201cIt helps you want to work hard during the week so when the weekend comes, you\u2019re ready to go.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He said success at the CNFR comes from keeping goals in perspective and maintaining a positive attitude.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou have to keep your mindset moving forward, even when things aren\u2019t going just the way you want them to,\u201d he said. \u201cDon\u2019t let yourself get down. It\u2019s just another rodeo. Take care of business.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Parsons, who finished in the top 10 in seven rodeos, wound up in third place in the region\u2019s final standings. Bartlett took second in the final regional standings, and fellow bull rider Monnett was third.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Travis Staley\u2019s tie-down roping title leads Tarleton State\u2019s timed event competitors into the CNFR. He earned the regional crown by virtue of five top-10 efforts, featuring firsts in Alpine at the Sul Ross Rodeo, and in Cisco, Pecos and Stephenville.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He is taking a businesslike approach to the College National Finals, maintaining a rigid practice schedule to keep his skills sharp and his horse in shape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI thought college rodeo would be hard,\u201d said Staley, a senior agribusiness major from Nashville, Ga., \u201cbut it\u2019s not really different from any other rodeo. If you go out there and do your job, you can win. If things don\u2019t go your way, just keep your head down and keep doing the same thing the next time and it\u2019ll work out. Keep practicing, keep hustling and it\u2019ll pay off.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Clemons, from Weatherford, earned his spot in Casper following a season that featured three firsts and a half-dozen top-five finishes. Porch qualified by taking fourth in tie-down roping and seventh in steer wrestling for the reserve championship in the men\u2019s all-around race.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tarleton State, one of the favorites heading into the CNFR, has won six men\u2019s national titles. The rodeo begins Sunday, June 14, at the Ford Center in Casper and winds up with the championship finals on Saturday, June 20.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAs long as we draw well and don\u2019t beat ourselves, it\u2019s a great possibility,\u201d Eakin said of the squad\u2019s chances at a three-peat. \u201cThis team is very capable.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
STEPHENVILLE, Texas \u2014 Tarleton State University\u2019s men\u2019s rodeo team will be going for the program\u2019s third national title in a row and the fourth in five years when the chute …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54,"featured_media":55288,"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_title":"","_wds_metadesc":"","_wds_focus-keywords":"","_wds_meta-robots-adv":"","_wds_meta-robots-noindex":false,"_wds_meta-robots-nofollow":false,"_wds_meta-robots-index":false,"_wds_meta-robots-follow":false,"_wds_autolinks-exclude":false,"_wds_canonical":"","_wds_redirect":"","_wds_opengraph":[],"_wds_twitter":[],"wds_primary_category":425,"footnotes":""},"categories":[382,425,421],"tags":[446,455,456],"class_list":["post-55287","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-homepage","category-campus-community","category-featuredstories","tag-division-of-student-engagement-success","tag-rodeo","tag-stephenville"],"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\/2026\/06\/CNFR-Mens-300x200.png","coauthors":[],"tax_additional":{"categories":{"linked":["_Homepage<\/a>","Campus & Community<\/a>","Featured Stories<\/a>"],"unlinked":["_Homepage<\/span>","Campus & Community<\/span>","Featured Stories<\/span>"]},"tags":{"linked":["Division of Student Engagement & Success<\/a>","Rodeo<\/a>","Stephenville<\/a>"],"unlinked":["Division of Student Engagement & Success<\/span>","Rodeo<\/span>","Stephenville<\/span>"]}},"comment_count":0,"relative_dates":{"created":"Posted 1 day ago","modified":"Updated 1 day ago"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Posted on June 11, 2026","modified":"Updated on June 11, 2026"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Posted on June 11, 2026 2:00 pm","modified":"Updated on June 11, 2026 3:43 pm"},"featured_img_caption":"","series_order":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55287","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=55287"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55287\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":55302,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55287\/revisions\/55302"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55288"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55287"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55287"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55287"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}