Kings County Times

On March 17 and 18, West Hills College Coalinga's rodeo program hosted the 44th annual WHCC rodeo at the West Hills rodeo arena on the outskirts of the city of Coalinga.  Nine teams from the West Coast Region of the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association (NIRA) competed in the two-day event:  Cal Poly SLO, Feather River College, Lassen College, Fresno State, Cuesta College, University of Nevada Las Vegas, Western Nevada College and Chico State as well as West Hills College all sent participants. West Hills interim head rodeo coach Justin Strickland and his team conducted a first class event which was witnessed by record breaking crowds on both Friday and Saturday. 

Feather River College took the men's team crown for the weekend and Cal Poly SLO managed to win the women's team title.  The West Hills Falcons men rode to a 3rd place finish with 310 points and the women's team took 4th place with 75 points.  Individual Falcons to shine at the event were Brayden Liberio the Bull Riding winner; Owen Redfeairn was 5th in the Men's All Around, 6th in Steer Wrestling and 3rd in the Team Roping Header.  Maddie Biglow was 6th and Makayla Farkas took 7th in the Goat Tying competition. 

With seven rodeo competitions in the books so far this year, Cal Poly SLO leads the men's and women's West Coast Region team standings.  The West Hills College women currently hold 2nd place in the region, while the men sit in 3rd place. 

The West Hills rodeo team will be competing next at the Cal Poly SLO Rodeo in San Luis Obispo on April 14 and 15.  Individuals spend the season attempting to qualify for the College National Finals Rodeo (CNFR) in Casper, Wyoming on June 11-17 by finishing in the top three in their event(s) in the West Coast Region.  Falcon individuals in the hunt to qualify for CNFR currently are Owen Redfeairn (4th in Men's All Around and 4th in Steer Wrestling); Colby Strickland (2nd in Bull Riding); Brayden Liberio (3rd Bull Riding); Pfeiffer Alves (4th in Barrell Racing); Maddie Biglow (3rd in Breakaway Roping) and Payton Lopez (4th in Goat Tying). 

Original source can be found here