ALVA, Okla. – It’s taken two and a half years, but Northwestern Oklahoma State University’s Tyler Scheevel finally picked up his first Central Plains Region victory.
Scheevel, an all-around cowboy from Lester Prairie, Minnesota, scored the steer wrestling title this past weekend at the Kansas State University rodeo in Manhattan, Kansas. He started off strong with a 4.4-second run to finish second in the opening round, then was 4.9 for a fourth-place finish in the championship round. The two-run cumulative time of 9.3 seconds was enough to claim the aggregate title.
“From my freshman year, I knew the start at K-State was short, and I knew my first steer ran pretty hard, so I saw what I needed to see and adjusted,” said Scheevel, a junior who transferred from Western Oklahoma State College prior to the fall semester.
“It was exciting. I am happy to finally get my first win. I’d made it back to the short go several times, but it was nice to finally come around and finish off on a strong note.”
He was one of three Rangers to score points in steer wrestling. Kaden Greenfield of Lakeview, Oregon, placed in both rounds and finished just one-tenth of a second behind Scheevel in the aggregate race. Jeremy Plourde of Carleton, Michigan, won the short round and finished fifth overall.
“It was really nice to see Northwestern bulldoggers up at the top again,” Scheevel said. “Jeremy is my roommate, and he made a really nice run to win the short round. It was fun to see everybody come back to the short-go and put more good runs together.”
They weren’t the only Northwestern cowboys to find success in Manhattan. Tie-down roper Tucker Hoffman of Mutual, Oklahoma, placed third in the short round and finished third overall, while Kade Chace of Cherokee, Oklahoma, finished fifth in the first round.
The team roping tandem of Camden Hoelting of Olpe, Kansas, and Austin Lampe of Dodge City, Kansas, finished second in the championship round and moved up to third overall. Stran Morris of Woodward, Oklahoma, roping with Jordan Lovins of Western Oklahoma State, placed in the long round. Barrel racer Samantha Chambers of Calhan, Colorado, finished sixth after placing in the short round.
Overall, it was a strong showing for the Northwestern rodeo teams. Knowing success was possible, Scheevel realized transferring to college in Alva would be beneficial to his future in rodeo.
“When I was at Western, I noticed I was bulldogging a little bit better, and that started to be my main event,” he said. “There’s no better college in the country to come to if you want to bulldog. There are so many good bulldoggers up here. That makes it fun to be around people like that.”
It doesn’t hurt that rodeo coach Stockton Graves is an eight-time National Finals Rodeo qualifier in steer wrestling and that there are others around the community that can provide assistance when possible. Alva is also home to 2020 world champion Jacob Edler and NFR qualifier Bridger Anderson, the latter of whom won the steer wrestling national title in 2019.
“I like that Northwestern is a smaller college,” Scheevel said. “Having Stockton’s knowledge is amazing. When you’re struggling, him and Edler can really help you. They can help you start fixing what you’re doing wrong.”