Sports

Clarendon College’s rodeo teams had a busy September posting good results at two rodeos.

The teams competed in Portales September 19-21 at the Eastern New Mexico University rodeo. The team fared well with five members of the men’s team competing in the finals.
Cole Franks, a freshman from Clarendon, qualified 5th in the Bareback Riding, 8th in the Saddle Bronc riding, and 10th in the Team Roping with partner Rafael Dominigo, a freshman from Citra, Florida.

In the Saddle Bronc Riding, Taylor Russell, a sophomore from Lipscomb, tied for second-third, Riggin Smith a sophomore from Winterset, Iowa, was fourth-fifth, and Keene Justesen a sophomore from St. Cloud, Florida, was 6th. Franks also placed fourth in the finals and finished 5th in the average in the Bareback Riding.

In the saddle Bronc Riding, Riggin Smith was 2nd in the finals and finished 2nd in the average, Taylor Russell finished 5th, Keene Justesen finished 6th, and Franks finished 8th.

In the Team Roping finals Franks and Dominigo placed 2nd, which was good enough for 2nd in the average.

The team finished in Portales with 305 points placing them 5th out of 17 teams in the Southwest Region.

Clarendon College teams traveled to Alpine, Texas, September 26-28 for the Sul Ross Rodeo with seven of the men’s team qualifying for the finals on Saturday night.

In the Bareback Riding, Justin Opatrny, a sophomore from Cochranton, Penn., split first-second in the first round, placed 6th in the finals, and was second in the average. Cole Franks split fourth-fifth in the first round, was second in the finals, and was in the average, and Josh Green, a sophomore from Wetumpka, Ala., placed 10th in the first round, 5th in the finals, and 8th in the average.

In the Saddle Bronc Riding, Riggin Smith placed 1st in first round, 1st in the finals and was the Champion Saddle Bronc rider of the rodeo.

Also in that event, Keene Justesen placed third-fourth in the first round, 3rd in the finals, and 3rd in the average. Taylor Russell placed 2nd in the first round and 7th in the average, while Brody Roessler, a freshman from Fairview, Alberta Canada, placed eighth-ninth in the first round and finished 9th in the average.

In the Bull Riding, Dawson Gleaves, a freshman from Amarillo, placed 5th in the first round and 5th in the average.

The men’s team placed 3rd overall with 405 points. The Women’s Team has had a rough start but continue to work hard for improvement.

The teams will travel to Vernon College October 3-5 and to Canadian for the Frank Phillips College Rodeo October 10-12, and finish the semester in Lubbock at Texas Tech on October 31- November 2.

The Bronco football team found a rhythm in Friday’s game with Munday despite a two-hour weather delay. Clarendon was able to shut out the Moguls, 40-0.

The Broncos quickly turned 341 total yards into six touchdowns to get by their opponent. Quarterback Brock Hatley was responsible for 39 of those yards in the air on two passes. One was caught by Jamal Butler for a big gain at 37 yards, and Jordan Herndon caught a two-yard pass.

“We played good Friday night,” head coach Clint Conkin said. “I thought our kids played very well.”

Once again, the Broncos looked good on the ground as they racked up 302 yards rushing on the offensive side of the ball. Sylvester Ballard had a good night running with 102 yards on 10 carries and three touchdowns. Lamarcus Penigar carried seven times for 37 yards, and Antwan Bassett had 12 carries on the night for 53 yards.

Herndon made good on two scores for the Broncos on three carries for 59 yards. Jordan Evans found the end zone once and was four for ten on the ground and Jmaury Davis posted 10 yards on four carries.

“Defensively, we held them to 135 total yards,” Conkin said. “They had 32 rushing yards and 103 passing yards.”

Davis finished with seven tackles and two QB sacks, and Hatley had seven tackles. Ballard had six tackles and one interception, and Ivan Gonzalez had four tackles and one interception. Herndon played strong and had four tackles, two sacks, and one caused fumble, while Butler had five tackles and sacked the QB once. Evans had three tackles and one sack, Zane Sneathen grabbed five tackles, one sack, and one caused fumble, and Penigar finished with one tackle and one interception.

The Broncos will play Memphis Friday, September 27, in their Homecoming game in Bronco Stadium beginning at 7:00 p.m.

The Clarendon College Lady Bulldogs closed out their 2019 season Monday at the NJCAA Region V tournament in Lubbock.

CC won its first game against Odessa College on Saturday, 10-7, but then fell to Midland College on Sunday, 1-2.

The Lady Bulldogs then were eliminated from the tournament with an 8-0 loss to Howard College on Monday. Howard went on to win the tournament championship.

Clarendon College’s Lady Bulldogs are the number two seed going into the NJCAA Region V West Tournament this Friday, May 10, in Lubbock.

CC finished the regular conference season last week, sweeping four games with Western Texas College at home. The Lady Bulldogs and number one seed Howard College will both get a bye in the opening round of the tournament. Clarendon will play at 6:30 p.m. at Lubbock Christian University against the winner of the Odessa College v. Western Texas match up earlier in the day.

Clarendon slipped one place in the national rankings last week, coming in at number 13 in the NJCAA poll released last Tuesday, April 30. The Lady Bulldogs are currently 47-7 for the season and 24-4 in conference play.

In last Saturday’s opening game at home against WTC, Clarendon’s Morgan Stevenson threw a gem on as the Lady Bulldogs beat Western Texas by a score of 7-0. Stevenson was the winning pitcher for Clarendon as she went seven innings, allowing zero runs on two hits and walking zero.

CC secured the victory thanks to five runs in the sixth inning. The offense was led by Regina Garza, Savannah Flinn, Mariyah Sandoval, and Shaylah Dominguez, who each had RBIs in the inning. The offense totaled 12 hits in the game. Dominguez, Claudia Telles, and Flinn each collected multiple hits. Flinn, Telles, and Dominguez each collected two hits to lead the Lady Bulldogs.

Saturday’s second game saw Devyn Yanello shut down WTC, throwing a complete game shutout and leading CC to a 12-0 victory. Yanello surrendered zero runs on five hits over five innings, striking out five and walking zero.

Clarendon got things started in the first inning with a single by Destinee Alvarez, a stolen base, and a single by Savannah Flinn, scoring one run. Shaylah Dominguez drew a walk as Sierra Wooley doubled to RF to score one, and Yanello singled to score two. The Lady Bulldogs also scored six runs in the third inning as Jasmin Marticorena, Destinee Alvarez, Claudia Telles, and Brie Worley all contributed in the big inning with RBIs.

The Lady Bulldogs racked up 14 hits on the day. Alvarez, Telles, Yanello, Flinn, and Wooley each managed multiple hits. Alvarez led with three hits in four at bats. The team stole five bases during the game as two players stole more than one. Alvarez led the way with two.

In day two of the series, CC won 13-0 as two pitchers combined to throw a shutout. Morgan Stevenson took the win for Clarendon as she surrendered zero runs on one hit over four innings, striking out two and walking one. Dezire Garcia threw one inning in relief out of the bullpen.

In the first inning, the CC got its offense started when Shaylah Dominguez doubled on a 0-1 count, scoring three runs. Clarendon collected 16 hits as Destinee Alvarez, Savannah Flinn, Jasmin Marticorena, Dominguez, and Regina Garza each managed multiple hits. Flinn and Alvarez had three hits to lead the team. The Lady Bulldogs were sure-handed in the field and didn’t commit a single error. Claudia Telles had the most chances in the field with seven.

The Lady Bulldogs delivered another shutout to close the series Sunday with an 11-0 win as three pitchers combined to throw a shutout.

Clarendon secured the victory thanks to eight runs in the third inning. The offensive onslaught by Clarendon was led by Mariyah Sandoval, Sierra Wooley, Jaylyn Hernandez, Savannah Flinn, and Claudia Telles, who each had RBIs in the inning. The Lady Bulldogs saw the ball well racking up 11 hits in the game. Telles and Flinn each collected multiple hits.

Dezire Garcia was credited with the victory as she surrendered zero runs on two hits over three innings, striking out two and walking zero. Devyn Yanello and Hope Arnold entered the game out of the bullpen and helped to close out the game in relief.

The Broncos have wrapped up their regular season and will face off against Sunray in their opening round of the playoffs this week.

The first game of the best of three series will be held Thursday, May 2, in Clarendon at 4:30 p.m. The second and third (if needed) games will be played in Sunray on Friday, May 3, beginning at 2:00 p.m.

The Broncos defeated Memphis 22-1 last week in one of their last games of the regular season to give them a boost going into the playoff rounds. According to coach Brad Elam, the Broncos did everything right.

“Great day for baseball and kids played a great game,” he said. “All phases did outstanding.”

Elam noted that the Broncos pounded out 11 hits in the game that include Collin Butler’s first homerun.

“Every starter scored at least one run,” he added.

Preston Elam, Ryan Ward, and Payton Hicks split duties on the mound and only allowed the Cyclones two hits and one run in five innings. Defensively, the Broncos were sharp as they committed zero errors in their win. They also were able to turn a nice double play from Butler to Jodee Pigg and then to Noab Elam for the outs.

The Clarendon College Rodeo team is currently in second place in the Southwest Region.

Much of the men’s team success can be attributed to two cousins from Winterset, Iowa – Riggin and Tegan Smith. They are sitting in first and second place in the Saddle Bronc Riding event. Tegan is splitting 3rd-4th in the Bull Riding making him the 1st place all-around cowboy.

Others contributing to the men’s team success include Brody Rankin, a freshman from Roaring Springs; Casey McCleskey, a sophomore from Clarendon; Brayden Roberson, a sophomore from Miami, Texas; Josh Green, a sophomore from Wetumpka, AL, and Taylor Russell, a freshman from Lipscomb.

With only one rodeo left this year, the men’s team is 210 points behind long time powerhouse Tarleton State University in 1st and only 10 points in front of the 3rd best team Weatherford College.

The final rodeo of the regular season will be held in Stephenville April 25-27.

Only two teams from the Southwest Region will advance to the College National Finals held in Casper, Wyo., June 9-15. The CC men’s team is working hard to compete to the best of their ability this weekend and finish in the top two teams.