By: Loren Miller, USU Eastern Sports Information

Photo courtesy of Tyson Chappell

PRICE – Utah State Eastern Rodeo’s Casey Thomas and Morgan Jensen have qualified for this Summer’s College National Finals Rodeo.

Both competitiors have qualified earlier this month at the final rodeo competition of the 2019 Intercollegiate Rodeo Season in Grand Junction, Colorado.

Thomas wil compete in the Team Roping Header event at Nationals with his partner Caleb Hendrix of Utah Valley University. He beat out 60 other teams in the region to qualify for the event. Thomas is currently ranked number one in the nation.

Jensen is ranked seventh in the country overall and took third this season in barrel racing. She beat out 75 other competitors from the 11 other schools in the region to earn a spot at the competition in June.

“We are so proud of our team. This is just our fourth year to have a team and to qualify two students for the CNFR is a big deal. There is already a lot of excitement around what we are doing and we are getting phone calls every day from students that want to come and be a part of our team next year,” said USU Eastern Rodeo Coach Monte Jensen.

The Finals competition consists of three long rounds with all the qualifiers competing. After those rounds the top ten competitors, based on regular season and long round points, will compete in the championship round.

Coach Jensen believes both Thomas and Jensen can come away with titles if they keep doing what they have been doing all year long.

“For our team members to be able to come away with a National title, they just need to do the same things they have been doing all year. Go make good, clean runs. They are both talented enough that if they go make their best run they can win the whole thing,” said Coach Jensen.

The College National Finals Rodeo will take place on June 8 through June 15 in Casper, Wyoming.