EMCC rodeo teams place seven participants in championship round of Arkansas-Monticello event

MONTICELLO, Ark. – East Mississippi Community College had seven rodeo team members advance to Saturday's championship round of the UAM Weevil Stampede, hosted by the University of Arkansas at Monticello, this past weekend. The three-day NIRA Ozark Region rodeo event was held at the UAM Truck Driving Academy.

The EMCC men's team placed fifth with a total of 255 points, while the EMCC women did not earn any team points.

For the Lions, Arkansas natives Sanders McElroy (Mountain View, AR) and Carson Powell (Benton, AR) combined for all of EMCC's team points in the men's competition. McElroy paired with his brother Scout, who competes for Southern Arkansas University, to place second in the team roping competition with 160 points each. The brother tandem finished just five-tenths out of first place with an aggregate score of 12.7 seconds that consisted of runs of 6.7 and 6.0 seconds.

Powell maintained his Ozark Region lead in the steer wrestling event by placing third with 95 points this past weekend. Now with 375 total points in his specialty event for the current season, he posted times of 5.7 and 6.6 seconds. Powell also advanced to the championship round of tie-down roping at the UAM rodeo but did not finish among the scorers.

In addition to McElroy's runner-up finish with his brother, the Lions placed two other team roping tandems in Saturday's championship round. The pairing of Dylan Jones (Lena, MS) and Colton Mewbourn (Mathiston, MS) along with the team of Hayden Barnett (Calhoun City, MS) and Keylee Zancanella (Aurora, SD) each posted first-round times but did not record times during the second round.

On the women's side for EMCC, Karson Moore (Albertville, AL) collected 70 individual points by claiming first-place breakaway roping honors in the first round with a 2.3-second effort. Zancanella also advanced to the championship round of the barrel racing competition but did not figure into the scoring.

In the final team standings from the UAM rodeo, the Missouri Valley College men claimed the team title over runner-up West Alabama, while Murray State University edged runner-up UWA by less than two points to claim women's team honors.

Head coach Morgan Goodrich's EMCC Lions are slated to close out the fall portion of their 2025-26 Ozark Region rodeo schedule by participating in the 50^th Annual MSU Racer Roundup, Nov. 20-22, hosted by Murray State University.