When Comstock’s Tyler Viers joined the Mid-Plains Community College Rodeo Team in July, Coach Dustin Elliott had high hopes for the young bull rider. Those hopes were realized this week as Viers was ranked first in the Great Plains Region and second nationally in the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association’s standings.
The announcement came on the heels of Viers’ win at North Dakota State University Oct. 18-19. His score of 153 in two rounds left him with 530 total points for the first half of the intercollegiate rodeo season – only 26 points behind the first place score. By comparison, his closest competitor finished 120 points behind him in the national standings.
“I’m staying hungry,” he said when asked about his success so far this year. “I’m motivated and I really want to win.”
“You can see it in Tyler’s eyes and demeanor that he wants to win,” agreed Elliott. “He’s got what it takes to walk away with not only the regional title, but a national title as a freshman.”
Viers, the son of Shane and Sandy Hickey and Jason and Cindy Viers, is a 2013 graduate of Sargent High School. He finished seventh in the nation in bull riding at the 2013 National High School Finals Rodeo Championship in Rock Springs, Wyo., on July 20.
With his sights firmly set on a career in bull riding, it just made sense for Viers to attend North Platte Community College and learn all he could from Elliott, himself a World Champion bull rider.
“Dustin is not only a great coach, he’s a mentor,” he said.
With five rodeos completed and five more remaining in the spring, Viers is optimistic about his chances for coming out on top in his first year of intercollegiate bull riding.
“I think my chances are pretty good,” he said. “I just hope to keep riding good and getting ‘em rode.”
The MPCC Rodeo Team finished the first half of the season in eighth place in the Great Plains Region with 180 points.
“The team has been close on several occasions,” Elliott said. “When competing against schools like UNL, SDSU, and NDSU and us only going into our fourth year as a program, I couldn’t be happier with what we’ve done to this point.”
For more information about MPCC’s Rodeo Team, contact Elliott at (308) 535-3686, email [email protected], or visit the Mid-Plains Community College Rodeo Team page on Facebook.