An appearance at the snowy 55th Annual Fort Hays (Kan.) State Rodeo, April 16-18, didn’t go as planned for the Garden City (Kan.) Community College men’s roster – and definitely not as well as Dustin Sanchez had fared the previous week. 

Competing April 8-10 at the 48th Annual Southwestern Oklahoma State University Rodeo in Weatherford, Okla., the Ignacio High School alumnus-turned-Broncbuster not only placed fifth in the bull riding’s long go but also conquered the short with an 81-pointer. Riding inside Don Mitchell Arena he also won the average, totaling 147 points on two head. 

Southeastern Oklahoma (Durant, Okla.) State’s Wyatt Rogers (146) came in second, while Fort Scott, Kan., CC’s Patterson Starcher (84) earned third. 

All told, the ’Busters finished in a tie for sixth, equaling Coffeyville, Kan., CC’s accumulated 140 points. Oklahoma Panhandle State University, meanwhile, returned to Goodwell, Okla., having racked up a winning 565 – easily bettering Western Oklahoma State College’s 470, plus matching 355s posted by SEOSU and the hosting Bulldogs – as the motivated Aggies ably backed up a 475-point triumph at the previous week’s Oklahoma State University (Stillwater, Okla.) Cowboy Stampede. 

OPSU had lost two team members – including Campo, Colo., roper Cinch Bullock – in a roll-over vehicle accident while en route to, ironically, the 54th Annual GCCC Rodeo, March 26-28 at the Finney County Fairgrounds. Panhandle somehow salvaged fifth place there with an even 300 points, while SWOSU amassed a first-place 465 and Garden City a ninth-place 100. 

Aggie bull rider T.J. Schmidt put up a short go-winning 81, and also took the average with 162/2 figures. 

Viewed Monday, April 19, the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association’s Central Plains Region standings showed Sanchez and the Broncbusters had earned 370 team points, ranking GCCC 12th out of 14 men’s programs. Kansas State University was tenth with 397.5, while OPSU’s 3,089.83 led second-place Western Oklahoma (Altus, Okla.) State College’s 2,670. 

Individually, Sanchez stood eighth in his specialty with 140 accumulated points; Rogers was the leader with 652, followed by Coffeyville’s Hunter Tate (415) and Fort Scott’s Trey Holston (300). 

Only OPSU’s Doc Gardner Memorial (4/22-24) and the Colby, Kan., CC Rodeo (4/30-5/2) remain on the Central Plains competitors’ COVID-compressed 2020-21 schedule. At season’s end only the top three in each individual event – as well as the top two teams from each of the NIRA’s 11 regions – will qualify for the 2021 College National Finals, June 11-19 in Casper, Wyo.