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STEPHENVILLE (July 31, 2015) — Tarleton State University’s men’s and women’s rodeo teams will be in the national television spotlight on Thursday, Aug. 13, when ESPN U will broadcast the best action from this year’s College National Finals Rodeo.
Rodeo fans can catch the teams during two shows scheduled to air beginning at 6 and 7 p.m. Central Standard Time. The broadcast also will include interviews and features from the entire finals week and portions of the awards ceremony.
The National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association (NIRA) announced additional broadcasts of each show will air throughout the month of August.
Tarleton’s men’s rodeo team was crowned national champions by the NIRA during the 67th annual CNFR in Casper, Wyo. The event was held June 14-20 at the Casper Events Center.
In addition to winning their first team national championship since 2005, Tarleton’s Landon Williams earned this year’s All-Around Cowboy title and the national title in tie-down roping during his third appearance at the CNFR.
Tarleton’s cowboys amassed 915 points en route to the national championship, edging Panhandle State (Okla.) which collected 835 points to finish as runners-up.
In all, Tarleton was represented by 10 student athletes at this year’s CNFR—an event known as the “Rose Bowl” of college rodeo—as the purple and white notched their seventh-straight appearance in the championship event.
The last two team titles for the Tarleton men were won in 1967 and 2005. Williams’ tie-down national title is the 11th individual championship in Tarleton’s long history of success in the rodeo arena, and the third championship in the event. Alumnus and Tarleton Rodeo Hall of Fame inductee Ryan Watkins won back-to-back tie-down roping titles in 2004 and 2005, and was crowned the All-Around Cowboy at the 2005 CNFR.
This year also marked the third-straight year Tarleton has had an individual national champion after Billy Bob Brown claimed the team roping title in 2013 and 2014.
To learn more about Tarleton State University rodeo’s winning tradition, visit www.tarleton.edu/rodeo.
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