Dream Season: Clingman for the win.
McKenna Clingman started the 2023-24 season off with a win, dominating the goat tying at Southern Utah University in Cedar City, and she ended the season with a win, walking away on top as a senior with a national championship.
In the sport of rodeo, Goat Tying is a bit of an enigma. In nearly all other disciplines of the sport, from Saddle Broncs and Bull Riding to Team Roping and Breakaway, there are copious opportunities for athletes to compete both professionally and recreationally in their careers after college, but for Goat Tyers, the College National Finals hold a special weight and pressure, as it represents what most of it's participants regard as the premier competition. For Goat Tyers, this is the Olympics, March Madness, and the Super Bowl all in one.
Clingman, a Laramie, Wyoming native, had been there before. In 2021, she qualified for the first time in the Goat Tying and followed in 2022 in both the Goat Tying and Breakaway. But in 2023, she dealt with a 3 rodeo handicap and was a part of the Maverick's team qualification which allowed her to compete in the Breakaway, but not the Goats, which is her signature event. With a full season and a career's worth of experience, she took her senior season by storm making the short round in 7 of ten rodeos breaking 1000 points in the Goat Tying alone while taking home the prestigious honor of All Around Cowgirl, meaning she scored more points overall in the season and more than any other women in the Rocky Mountain Region. Her teammates were both second and third in the region as
Justise Jones won reserved All-Around and reserve Goat Tying honors while
Wylee Mitchell won her second regional Barrel Racing title in a row.
Izzy Yama rounded out the 4 person women's national team after only competing in half of the season's rodeos and dominating while she did, while
Kayden Henderson of Nevada was the lone men's qualifier for CMU, coming back from a late season injury in 2023 and making his first trip to the CNFR in the Saddle Bronc Riding.
As qualifiers in the All Around, both Clingman and Jones faced the challenge of working multiple events during the week and handled the chaos well as they made multiple runs on multiple days and staying true to the game planes. In the long rounds, both were the pinnacle of consistency and the duo came back to the short round with Justise splitting the 4/5 call position, and Clingman in the 2nd spot, sitting .6 off the leader Rayme Jones of perennial powerhouse Tarleton State University who won two go rounds on her way to championship Saturday. To call the week a finale right there would have already made history for the Mavericks. Never before had the Mavs won a regional title, a pairing of All Around Qualifiers, had two regional event champions in the same season, or had multiple contestants in a CNFR short go, all of which were accomplished in 2024 and more accolades would be written in short order on Saturday night.
In a short round that sees contestants go slowest to fastest, both Clingman and Jones had to wait through the majority of the short round runs before getting their chance. Jones, the Canadian from High River, Alberta didn't have the perfect run, but was sitting inside the top 3 as she left the arena which would have guaranteed her the highest placement by any CMU Maverick in history up to that point. The run also secured her horse, Pepper, his selection as AQHA Horse of the Year in the CNFR Goat Tying. The importance of the equine athletes can't be overstated for the Mavericks as
Wylee Mitchell's horse, Gus, also secured regional Horse of the Year honors in the Barrel Racing. Clingman and Yama rode the same horses for the entirety of their college careers as Yama teamed up with Wilbur and Clingman with Snoozy the horse that she would also finish her collegiate career on in the final round.
When the time came for Clingman to run, she had to be 6.9 or faster to take over the lead in the average and guarantee herself no less than reserved champion honors. Her run, like so many others she made over the course of the season, was crisp, clean, strong, and deliberate. While it was her slowest time of the CNFR, the 6.7 was fast enough to take the lead and put the pressure on Rayme Jones, forcing her to be a 7.3 which on paper may have seemed like a forgone conclusion as that was a full second slower then any run she'd made in the Ford Wyoming Center Arena to that point. As anyone in sports knows, there's a reason games aren't played on paper and a single miscalculated step forced a fall, and the victory remained in the hands of the CMU cowgirl. Coach Tia Edwards had strong praise for the senior, "McKenna is a phenomenal athlete and an outstanding person, it's been pleasure to coach her…. Knowing it was her last college rodeo, I couldn't be happier for her and our program." As a further testament to her character, it was also confirmed that Clingman and Coach Edwards, even after not getting done with the awards ceremony and taking care of horses until after 11pm, still got up the next morning and drove before daylight in order to fulfill an obligation and promise made to be clinicians at a youth camp over 5 hours from Casper on Sunday morning.
Character is key for the CMU Rodeo team, and
McKenna Clingman is the definition.
