The Blue Mountain Community College rodeo team is hosting the Fourth Northwest Region Intercollegiate Rodeo as well as the Northwest Regional Finals May 3-4 at the Farm City Pro Rodeo Arena at the Umatilla County Fair Grounds in Hermiston.
All proceeds from the event go directly back to scholarships for the Blue Mountain Rodeo Team.
Ten Northwest Region rodeo teams will kick off the competition at 10 a.m. Friday morning and the Regional Finals will begin at 6:30 p.m. Friday evening. The Regional Finals will continue on with slack at 10 a.m. Saturday morning and a final go at 5 p.m. Saturday night.
PGG will bring their mutton busting circuit to the rodeo this year. The top 40 qualifies from the Spring Spectacular will ride over the weekend to qualify for a position at the Fourth of July PBR. Mutton busting will be one hour prior to each evening rodeo performance, 5:30 p.m. on Friday and 4 p.m. on Saturday.
Competing teams include Blue Mountain Community College, Walla Walla Community College, Treasure Valley Community College, Central Oregon Community College, Central Washington University, Oregon State University, Boise State University, Washington State University, Oregon Institute of Technology and University of Idaho. Currently BMCC is leading the region on the men’s side by 955 points over WWCC and on the women’s side by 2,300 points over WWCC.
This is the final rodeo of the season in which athletes will be fighting for a trip to Casper, Wyo., to the College National Rodeo Finals June 9-15. The top three students in each event, and top two men’s and women’s teams from the NIRA’s 11 regions will qualify for the CNFR. Complete standings are available online.
Tickets are $10 and can be purchased at the gate. Children under 12 years of age get in free. Judy’s Chuck Wagon will provide the concessions. There will also be a beer garden for those over 21 years of age.
