The 2025 NIRA Big Sky Region rodeo season got underway over the weekend in Cody, WY with 2 rodeos hosted by Northwest College.

The MCC Pioneers found some success at the 1st rodeo and look to build on that over the coming weeks as the Pioneers have 2 more fall rodeos to go. 

On the women's side of things, the Pioneers had the most team success as they have had in recent memory. MCC scored 214 points to finish in 3rd place and put themselves on notice of being a contender in the region. 

Josie Menzel (Philip, SD) started things off right with a win goat tying for rodeo 1. Her time of 7.2 seconds earned Menzel her 1st collegiate victory. Clancy Hornberger (Blaisdell, ND) came away with a 5th place finish in Breakaway Roping with a time of 3.3 seconds. 

Menzel backed that effort off with a 4th place finish in rodeo 2 with a time of 7.3 seconds as the Pioneers scored 88 points to finish in 5th place. 

The Pioneer men's team did not fair as well in rodeo 1. MCC scored 32 points to finish in 5th place led by a 7th place finish in Tie Down Roping from Weston LaPierre (Killdeer, ND) with a time of 19.4 seconds. No other Pioneer placed in rodeo #1. 

The men scored more points in rodeo 2 led by Jaxon Campbell (Strathmore, Alberta) with a second place finish in Bareback Riding with a score of 48 that gave the Pioneers 126 team points. 

MCC will be back at it on Friday for the Dawson CC Rodeo in Glendive, MT. Performance on Friday night at 7:00 PM followed by slack on Saturday at 10:00 AM and another performance on Saturday night at 7:00 PM.