Pruitt and Fisher team up for College National Finals Rodeo
Justin Pruitt of Greenbrier, a member of the East Mississippi Community College rodeo team, has combined with Colt Fisher of Sulphur, La, in qualifying for the team roping event at the College National Finals Rodeo this week at Casper, Wyoming.
They are ranked second regionally in team roping and heeler. Their second-place Ozark Region standing within the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association was aided by back-to-back team roping titles at Arkansas-Monticello and UA Cossatot to open EMCC’s spring schedule.
It is the fourth straight year EMCC is represented in the Collee National Finals Rodeo.
The College National Finals Rodeo is where the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association (NIRA) annually crowns individual event champions in saddle bronc riding, bareback riding, calf roping, steer wrestling, bull riding, team roping, barrel racing, breakaway roping, and goat tying. The top three athletes in each event and the top two men’s and women’s teams from each of the NIRA’s 11 regions annually qualify for the CNFR. With more than 400 cowboys and cowgirls from over 100 universities and colleges expected to compete individually in Casper this coming week, national team championships will also be awarded in the men’s and women’s divisions.
UCA’s Votolato makes all-region team
Doug Votolato of the University of Central Arkansas has made the American Baseball Coaches Association All-Central Region baseball team, which features 26 players from four conferences.
This marks the second consecutive season that a Central Arkansas player has been honored, after Forrestt Allday led all outfielders in votes in 2013.
Votolato, who is one of five Southland Conference players on the first team, was a first-team All-Southland Conference selection this season, and was drafted by the Texas Rangers in the ninth round of this year’s Major League Baseball draft. He finished second in the SLC in hitting with a .379 batting average and led the league in stolen bases with 26. He finished second in on-base percentage (.456), third in hits (83), and fifth in runs batted in (50).
104 from Hendrix make SAA honor roll
Hendrix College placed 104 athletes on the Southern Athletic Association Academic Honor Roll for the 2014 spring term.
To qualify, an athlete must maintain a minimum grade-point average of 3.25 for the term and be a regular member of a varsity athletic team in a sport sponsored by the conference.
All nine members of the men’s tennis team were honored. Baseball had the most with 16, followed by women’s tennis with 12, softball with 10, women’s basketball and men’s tennis with nine each, men’s lacrosse and women’s swimming and diving with eight, men’s and women’s track and field and men’s basketball with seven, women’s lacrosse with five, men’s golf with four, men’s swimming and diving with three and women’s golf with two.
Baseball (16) – Brian Commerford, Zane Heather, Baker Helton, Daniel Imbro, Nick Land, Seth Mobley, Brady Newville, Will Nichol, Grant Nunn, Colten Poellinger, Alex Raab, Tim San Pablo, Cannon Schrank, Matt Simmons, Thomas Weber, Austin Womack
Men’s Basketball (7) – Bruce Baker, Jordan Barrett, Alec Conard, Gearen Littlefield, John Ogle, Colton Primm, Aaron Steele
Women’s Basketball (9) – Hailey Bode, Katie Coughran, Estrella Flores, Anna King, Caitlin Kriesel-Bigler, Kaitlin McNeill, Taylor Neal, Jamie Tate, Cathy Waylan
Men’s Golf (4) – Kevin Austrian, Greg Lanese, Travis Weeks, Cory Ziegler
Women’s Golf (2) – Kelsi McClure, Claire Spence
Men’s Lacrosse (8) – Jason Blatt, Carson Boone, Mat Larimer, Cameron Millstone, Dennis O’Hara, Alex Ortenstone, Travis Rabun, Christian Wheeler
Women’s Lacrosse (5) – Caitlin Kriesel-Bigler, Amibeth Marks, Jenny Rable, Raychl Reger, Catherine Turner
Softball (10) – Taylor Adams, Shelby Anderson, Taylor Bennett, Cara Brazeal, Sean Corbin, Catelyn Gibbs, Katey Havens, Victoria Hughes, Michaela Larabee, DJ Sandidge
Men’s Swimming and Diving (3) – John Byford, Troy Koser, Samuel Maynard
Women’s Swimming and Diving (8) – Claire DePree, Sydney Haldeman, Kate Henricks, Taylor Keplin, Bayley Krell, Sarah McHugh, Laura Price, Jo Claire Robertson
Men’s Tennis (9) – Johnny Anderson, Bob Berardi, Chase Davis, Karthik Garimella, Ian McVinney, Jean-Baptiste Palud, Ilya Pound, Robert Sheets, Zach Villemez
Women’s Tennis (12) – Morgan Carrico, Grace Dearing, Lauren Dickinson, Annlee Glass, Caroline Kelley, Julia Lefler, Elizabeth Phelps, Saranya Prathibha, Pratheepa Ravikumar, Elisa Rivera, Madison Schallhorn, Hannah Smashey
Men’s Track & Field (7) – Hunter Briggs, Peter Butler, Charlie Garcia, Shaquille Grant, Cam Meek, Jeffrey Scott, Stephen Stearman
Women’s Track and Field (7) – Kelly Brice, Nicholle Cromwell, Estrella Flores, Anna King, Samantha Stockdale, Cassie Taucher, Tori Walters