NJC brings home two national titles

Segelke and Carroll shine bright at College National Finals Rodeo

Sterling, CO--Miles of pavement passed under their tires as three Northeastern Junior College rodeo athletes made their way to Casper, Wyoming for the College National Finals Rodeo taking place there June 11-16^th.  The trip provided a story book finish to an exceptional season when two of the three students came away from Casper with national championship titles. Hayden Segelke, an NJC freshman from Snyder, CO captured the National All Around Cowgirl title and Shay Carroll, a sophomore from LaJunta, CO earned the National Champion Team Roping title and was named runner-up for the National All Around Cowboy title.  What made these winnings especially sweet is that NJC was the only Colorado college to even have students qualify for the national finals in 2012. Let’s just say that the state was represented well, thanks to NJC’s outstanding performance.

Winning back to back regional titles in the team roping and men’s all-around in 2011 & 2012, Shay Carroll finished his career at NJC with a bang. The second member of his family to attend this college, Carroll showed up as a freshman with an impressive resume already. His older sister Tanaye, who attended NJC in 2006-2007, was an equally impressive competitor in the arena, qualifying for nationals both years that she was going to school in Sterling.  Continuing that family tradition, Shay qualified for the CNFR his freshman year at NJC, but his finish was less than anyone expected.  He did not qualify for the championship round in either of his events—calf roping or team roping. 

Returning with fire in his eyes his sophomore year, Shay, with his partner, Tyler Schnaufer originally from Pueblo, now attending the University of Wyoming, dominated the region in the team roping in 2011-2012. The two  have roped together since they were in the junior division at junior rodeos and have an impressive history and team chemistry. “Shay is a complete competitor, understands the horsemanship, the mental game, and how to come through when it counts,” says Brian Cullen, NJC’s head rodeo coach.

During the first round of competition at the CNFR, Carroll was up in the calf-roping slack and to everyone’s dismay, he missed his calf. This was only the second calf he’d ever missed in his two years at the college rodeo level. His hopes for a national title in calf roping slipped away just as quickly as the calf escaped his loop. He went back for round two of the calf roping, catching this time and racking up a respectable time of 10.8, but not good enough to place. In round three, Shay finally got the type of calf he needed and recorded a time of 8.3 seconds, placing him fourth in the round, but more importantly scoring points in a second event qualifying him for the men’s all-around cowboy race.

Despite disappointment in his calf roping performance, Carroll would later ride into the heeling box, determined to redeem himself in the team roping.  He and his partner had an impressive 5.9 second run and placed third in the first round.. However, in the second round of team roping he and Schnaufer caught in 6.8 seconds. This really turned the heat up on them for the third round and  another rock solid performance of 5.9 seconds placed them seventh in the round, but more importantly qualifying them in the third position for the national championship round of competition.

Going into Saturday night’s championships, it was going to be a shootout and Carroll’s team came with its guns a blazing’. Running slowest to fastest in the average in the championship round, when Shay and Tyler rode into the roping boxes, they needed only to catch in 9.4 seconds or less to take over the lead.  They stretched that steer in 6.3 seconds.  With two teams, one from Walla Walla, Washington and another from McNeese, Louisiana, left to make their runs, fans from the Shay Carroll camp held their breath hoping for the best. Both of these other teams recorded five second penalties. Carroll had indeed, captured the national team roping title.  When his team roping performance was combined with his calf roping performance, he easily earned the men’s all-around reserve championship. Carroll was also honored with the Harry Vold  “Duke of the Chutes” Scholarship, a prestigious award given to CNFR qualifiers based on character and leadership.  Carroll has been an academic stand-out at NJC, being on the honor rolls and also being selected a top business student both years.

As if Carroll’s performance wasn’t impressive enough, NJC also had the star power of Hayden Segelke shining bright in Casper. “Hayden is the one cowgirl everyone in the region stopped and watched all year long as she has an infamous “it” factor,” says NJC women’s coach Taya McAdow.  Prior to enrolling at Northeastern,  Segelke was a multiple time national champion in the ranks of high school and junior rodeo.  She led the NJC women’s team to a fourth  place finish in the Central Rocky Mountain Region as a freshmen; walking away with the barrel racing and women’s all-around titles in 2012.   The tough competition of the college national finals was old hat for Segelke. “ Hayden is the definition of a competitor. She is dedicated, humble, and a team player.  She is everything a coach could ask for,” notes McAdow.

In CNFR round number one, Segelke was up in the 7 a.m. barrel racing slack. Her awesome run woke everyone up with a 14.2, placing her second in the first round only behind the returning national champion from Huntsville, Texas. In round two of the barrel racing, she recorded a 13.98 time to win the second round of competition.  In round three however, she knocked over a barrel which gave her a five second penalty and bumped her out of the running for the top spot. The arena record in the barrel racing at the CNFR is 13.86 seconds that has stood for a number of years. Without the five second penalty, Segelke would have had a record breaking 13.66 second run. Needless to elaborate, the knocked over barrel created instant heartbreak for Hayden, but she knew she could still shine in goat tying. Throughout all of this barrel competition, Segelke rode “Rascal”, her super horse, which she raised, broke, and trained.  Her stellar performance resulted in a nice front page feature story on her and Rascal in the Casper Tribune sports section.

In round one of the goat tying, she had a 7.1 second run and in round two, repeated this exact time with another 7.1 run. In round three, she had a 7.6 second run. Her combined 21.8 seconds earned her a trip to the championship round tied for the ninth position.  While things had not gone how Segelke had hoped they would for a barrel racing title, she knew she still had a shot at earning the women’s all-around cowgirl title if she placed in the goat tying during the championship round. Drawing a leggy, black devil goat that had only stayed tied three out of nine times during the performance, the odds were stacked against her. This goat clearly had  never drawn Hayden Segelke. She made easy work of him and garnered a 7.0 second run, winning the round. That’s all it took to seal the  deal on the National All Around Cowgirl title.

Also competing at the national finals for NJC was Kelby Bond, the oldest of two brothers from Pueblo County who chose to ride for Northeastern. He qualified to go to the CNFR in the steer wrestling. Bond  had a successful season as a freshmen that included winning his first college rodeo in Chadron, Nebraska. This however, was followed by surgery between semesters. Never completely healthy throughout this entire last year, he competed in all three timed events--calf roping, team roping, and his signature steer wrestling. In addition to being a college rodeo competitor and completing a full load of college classes, Bond worked part time at Sterling Livestock.  When the regular season of college rodeo came to an end,  Bond earned his way to the CNFR by placing third  in the Central Rocky Mountain Region in the steer wrestling.

 “These Bond boys are tough as nails, they know how to work,” stated head rodeo coach Brian Cullen, “Kelby is special, he doesn’t beat himself and his fundamentals are very correct.” 

At the finals, Bond, competing against cowboys from both two and four years colleges in steer wrestling, tied for sixth in the first round with a time of 4.8 seconds.  In the second round, Bond recorded a respectable time of 7.0.  All that needed to happen in round three was a decent run somewhere faster than 8 seconds to qualify him for the championship finals.  He drew a tough steer that wallowed him down at the end of the arena taking 12.1 seconds to stop the clock. There was no championship round for Kelby Bond, but an outstanding appearance for his first time to college finals.

 “Kelby’s first words to me were that he was going to be back at the finals next year, focusing on the future and not the past, no excused or regrets, but moving forward,” said Coach Cullen, “Kelby has a great attitude and is easy going, that will be an asset to him throughout his competitive career.”

Cullen makes a point to say that strategic changes in the NJC program have paid off.  “We made a decision four years ago to focus on the timed events. Before, we did both rough stock events and timed events and it stretched our resources too thin,” he said. “We are a timed event school for men and women and the 2012 CNFR proved we made the right decision. There are a lot of schools out there that haven’t won a national championship ever, and NJC just won two in 2012! I look forward to 2012-13 when NJC fields another team with deep talent in both men and women,” he said. Carroll has plans to transfer to Tarelton State University in Texas this fall. Segelke and Bond will return to NJC.

“We’re on the ‘map’ now-- the rodeo world knows we’re very serious about winning at collegiate rodeo.”

The coaches extend a special note of thanks to their college, colleagues and community for support in making sure Sterling continues to be a “Cowboy Town.”