CHADRON, Neb. – CSC senior rodeo team members Brooke McCully and Jake Chasek will compete at the College National Finals Rodeo in Casper, Wyoming this upcoming week, and hopes are high the two Eagles will fare well.

McCully, of Mullen, Nebraska, is a breakaway roper while Chasek, a Mitchell, Nebraska native, is a tie down roper. Both will be wrapping up their collegiate rodeo careers during the finals. Chasek has competed in rodeo the past four years while McCully was on the CSC basketball team for two years before switching to breakaway roping, where she had lots of success in high school.

McCully is slated to compete in the #20 position during the matinee on Sunday, June 15th, followed by the #42 position in "slack" and the #13 position in "performance" on Tuesday, June 17. Chasek will compete in the #42 position in "slack" on Monday, June 16th, followed by "slack" position #6 and "performance" position #7 on Tuesday. All the action will be in the Ford Wyoming Center, which has a seating capacity of nearly 8,400. 

About 400 cowboys and cowgirls will be competing at the CNFR. They qualify by finishing among the top three in their event in one of the 11 regions in the nation. Chadron State is in the Central Rocky Mountain Region, which includes about a dozen schools in a three-state area.

In the region, McCully finished second in the breakaway roping standings and Chasek tied for third in tie down roping this past year. The duo are Chadron State's first CNFR qualifiers since 2021.

CSC Rodeo Coach Lane Day said both are capable of doing well on the big stage. "They have the talent and the experience to make things happen," Day said. "A lot depends on the luck of the draw, but I know they'll give their best shot to reach the finals."

McCully, who was first in the region standings after the fall season, is excited because her favorite horse is healthy again after being sidelined early in the spring portion of the schedule. McCully rode Tom, a gray gelding, last fall to earn most of her points while winning the breakaway championship at two rodeos and finishing as the runner-up at a third. McCully's average times on her six runs at those rodeos was 2.87 seconds, helping her stand out from the stiff breakaway competition in a region that saw nearly 100 cowgirls enter the event at all 10 of the rodeos this year. McCully said she's been practicing almost daily the past few weeks, using both Tom and two younger horses she's training. 

Chasek's big rodeo this past season was at Casper College in mid-April. Chasek was the tie down roping winner, served as the header on the first-place team roping entry and was also the rodeo's all-around cowboy. He also finished second, third and fourth, respectively, in tie down roping at the first three rodeos last fall and made the finals in a fourth rodeo.

Chasek graduated from Chadron State in May summa cum laude, which requires at least a 3.90 grade point average. McCully, also an honor student, will return to college this fall and graduate in December. Both are business majors.   
      
After a church service in the morning, the College Finals Rodeo will begin Sunday, June 15 at 1 p.m. with an afternoon of "Broncs and Bulls." The next day starting at 7 a.m., will be "slack" for the cowboys and cowgirls in the timed events.  All of the more than 400 contestants will have competed once during these sessions.

Five nightly rodeo performances featuring contestants in all nine events beginning at 7 o'clock Tuesday, June 17 will follow. The finals made up of the 12 leaders in each event after all the contestants have completed three go-rounds will be Saturday, June 21 at 7 p.m.

Chadron State contestants have been competing at the college finals rodeo dating back exactly 70 years. It was 1955 when Don Meter won the calf roping at the national rodeo in Colorado Springs. Meter was Chadron State's first national champion in any sport.

During a telephone conversation last week, Meter, who will be 90 in December, said he no longer rides horses, but watches and helps while his daughter, Martee Meter Pruitt, and her husband, Troy train young horses. Both of the Meters' daughters placed at the CNFR while they were attending Chadron State, with Martee finishing fifth in the barrel race in 1979 and Shelley Meter tying for second in goat tying and winning the all-around cowgirl at the 1987 finals.  
Meter also admitted that he loves to watch his grandson, Riley Pruitt, who also lives nearby, practice roping calves. 

Chadron State's overall CNFR placewinners through the years are:

              1955—Don Meter, Minatare, first in calf roping.
              1978—Jean Fuchs, Thedford, first in breakaway roping
              1979—Kathy Kennedy, Channing, Tex., first in breakaway roping, and Martee Meter, Minatare, fifth in barrel racing.  CSC women fourth in team standings.
              1981—Todd McIntyre, Thedford, second in saddle bronc riding.
              1983—Shari Fisher, Chadron, second in barrel racing, and Bunny Pisacka, Buffalo Gap, S.D., fifth in goat tying. CSC women fifth in team standings. (Kerry Becker, Ashby, also team member).
              1986—Kerry Becker, Ashby, fourth in breakaway roping. Dorene Johnson, Glenrock, Wyo., sixth in goat tying.
              1987—Shelley Meter, Minatare, tied for second in goat tying and all-around cowgirl.
              1999—Will Farrell, Thermopolis, Wyo., first in bull riding.
              2001—Dustin Elliott, John Day, Ore., first in bull riding.
              2002—Will Farrell, Thermopolis, Wyo., first in bull riding.
              2003—Curt LaDuke, Valentine, fifth in calf roping
              2005—Jennifer Nelson, Hartford, S.D., third in breakaway roping.
              2006—Chase Francis, Alamosa, Colo., sixth in team roping (header).
              2013—Amy Tierney, Hot Springs, S.D., third in goat tying.
              2014—CSC women, second in team standings. Shelby Winchell, Scottsbluff, tie for second in goat tying; Amy Deichert, Spearfish, S.D., fifth in barrel racing; Amy Tierney and Shaylee Hance in goat tying and Katie Loughran in barrel racing, also earned team points by placing high in go-rounds. 
              2016—Shelby Winchell, Scottsbluff, first in goat tying. (Her four runs totaled 25.0 seconds.)  
              2021—Brianna Williams, Buffalo, S.D., fourth in breakaway roping.