Northern rodeo team begins spring season with competition in Bozeman

The Montana State University-Northern rodeo team is back in the saddle for the spring.

The team traveled to Bozeman last weekend for the first rodeo of the season.

The three-day event had large crowds and provided a lot of excitement for the fans, coach Betty Clark said.

After the completion of the long-go on Friday night, Northern had three team members qualify for the short-go on Saturday night.

Doug Kallenberger placed fourth in the saddle bronc with a score of 58 but was bucked off before the 8-second whistle.

Ashley Buck made it back in the barrel racing, tying for eighth. Buck found some bad luck in the short-go though as she tipped the third barrel, resulting in a penalty.

Jamee Clark squeezed into the qualifying short-go, tying for 10th place out of 59 ropers with a time of 4 seconds. Clark's teammates Amber Seilstad had a time of 4.1 seconds, Jaley Wacker in 4.3 seconds and Buck in 5.2 seconds.

In the short-go, Clark placed third in the round with a time of 3.9 seconds and ended up fourth in the average.

Also competing for the Northern team is Todd Owens, Brandon Wood, Tyler Floerchinger and Jesse Simonson.

The season continues for the Northern team this weekend in Helena, Friday through Sunday.