BOZEMAN — A group of twelve Montana State rodeo student-athletes will be heading to Casper, Wyoming, this weekend for the 2024 College National Finals Rodeo. They will be competing for individual national championships as well as men’s and women’s team titles.
Senior Tayla Moeykens, who is the 2021 barrel racing national champion and currently leads the nation in that event, leads a dominant group that excelled in the Big Sky Region in 2023-24. Montana State’s men outperformed their closest competitor, Montana Western, with 8,252.5 points to 5,510.5, while the Bobcat women scored 3,640.16 points compared to second-place MSU Northern’s 2,988.5. MSU freshman Cole Gerhardt took the region all-around cowboy honors, while freshman Wyatt Jensen claimed the region’s tie-down title and sophomore Jaden Whitman secured the steer wrestling title. Moeykens also won the region’s barrel racing crown.
Montana State head coach Kyle Whitaker expressed confidence in his team’s national competitiveness, stating, “We’ve got several guys that are going to be competitive nationally. If Tayla can excel in the breakaway (roping), it will greatly benefit the women’s team. At the CNFR, none of the points from the season count, so anything can happen in that format.”
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Two seniors who Whitaker believes are “real national contenders” lead the Bobcat women’s team.
Whitaker expressed his hopes for Moeykens and McGinley, stating, “Like Paige last year, Tayla has had such a great career, and she has a national championship, but I hope she can go out with another one. And I told Meghan last week that she’s a national champion breakaway roper, she just has to go there and do it.” McGinley is ranked fourth nationally in barrel racing, Breyer Newman is 17th in goat tying, Alexis McDonald ranks 20th nationally in barrel racing, and Jessica Stevens finished third in the region in goat tying.
While the experienced women’s team showcases their talent in all three events, Montana State’s young men’s team focuses on roping events. The Bobcats have three participants in roughstock events, but the majority are involved in tie-down roping or steer wrestling. The men’s team also demonstrated national competitiveness during the regular season, with Whitman finishing fourth in steer wrestling, Johnson sixth in steer wrestling, Gerhardt eighth in bareback riding, Jensen 13th in tie-down roping, and Bailey 25th in saddle bronc riding.
Whitaker emphasized the team’s strengths in tie-down roping and steer wrestling, stating, “Most of the teams that do well (in Casper) have one event they’re really strong in. I think we’re tough in (steer wrestling and tie-down roping), and if we can accumulate points in those events, that’s how we win it.”
The CNFR consists of three go-rounds from Sunday to June 14, with the championship round on June 15 at 7 p.m. The event will be streamed on ESPN3, with the schedule available here.
