Tiger Wranglers Start Second Half Close to Home

MERIDIAN, Miss. – Fans of the University of West Alabama rodeo team are getting a rare treat this weekend when the Tiger Wranglers open the 2020-21 Spring Season in a familiar setting less than 40 miles from the UWA campus.

West Alabama will be among several collegiate rodeo teams from the Ozark Region competing in the East Mississippi Community College 9th Annual Intercollegiate Rodeo at the Lauderdale County Agri-Center, the same location where the Tiger Wranglers hosted the annual UWA Rodeo Showdown in late September.

The Tiger Wranglers, along with the remainder of the Ozark Region membership, have not competed in intercollegiate rodeo since the Racer Roundup Nov. 13-14 in Murray, Kentucky. The EMCC Rodeo was originally scheduled for last month, but wintry weather postponed the event for a month.

The action begins Thursday and continues through Saturday night with gates opening at 7 p.m. Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for students. Children age 5 and younger are admitted free.

"We are chomping at the bit to get the spring semester of competition kicked off," West Alabama head coach Daniel Poole said. "This is only the halfway point in the season, so it's still anybody's game.

"Having a rodeo so close to home is a plus for various reasons, one of them being that our horses will be in their own stalls each night and should be well rested," Poole said. "We hope some of our Tiger Wrangler fans and folks from the UWA community can make it over to Meridian to cheer us on."

Competitive events include bareback riding, tie-down roping, breakaway roping, saddle bronc riding, steer wrestling, goat tying, team roping, barrel racing, and bull riding.

Children's events will include a calf scramble and a pig scramble.

The remainder of the Ozark Region spring schedule follows: Pearl River Rodeo in Poplarville, Mississippi (March 25-27), the Weevil Stampede in Monticello, Arkansas (April 1-3), the 53^rd Annual UT Martin Spring College Rodeo in Martin, Tennessee (April 15-17) and the Northwest Mississippi Community College Rodeo in Senatobia, Mississippi (April 22-24).

The 2021 College National Finals Rodeo is scheduled for June 13-19 in Casper, Wyoming.

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