McCully catches, rises to eighth place finish at CNFR

CASPER, Wyo. – Chadron State College senior Brooke McCully of Mullen placed third in the final go-round of breakaway roping at the College National Finals Rodeo in Casper on Saturday night and finished eighth in the final standings among the 61 cowgirls who qualified for the event.

McCully caught her calf in in the finals in 2.4 seconds, rallying from a no-catch in the first go-round with three fast times to climb into the top 10 with an aggregate time of 6.7 seconds.

Each of the top six placewinners caught all four of their calves, led by co-champions Rylee George of Texas A&M University at Commerce and Kate Eiland of Pearl River College in Mississippi. Gillette College's Haiden Thompson (6.0) and McCully (6.7) finished seventh and eighth, respectively, by posting the fastest times among those who caught three of their four calves.
  
"Brooke overcame adversity in the first go-round," Chadron State rodeo coach Lane Day said. "She had never seen that calf before and didn't know it was going to take its time getting out of the chute. Then she had three almost perfect runs to still finish high. She proved she's an outstanding breakaway roper."

Thompson won the finals go-round in 1.8 seconds while second in the go-round went to Rylee George of Texas A&M University at Commerce in 2.3 seconds.

George also tied for first place in the overall breakaway standings with Eiland, as both caught four calves in 10 seconds flat. Third place overall went to Alissa Erickson of Cisco Junior College in Texas, who completed four runs in 11.2 seconds.

McCully, a former CSC women's basketball player who returned to competing in rodeo two years ago, completed her three successful runs in 2.2, 2.1 and 2.4 seconds.