CASPER, Wyo. (June 12, 2022) — Cole Franks came to the 2021 College National Finals Rodeo with his eye on winning the championship. He did that in stellar fashion and is back this year looking for back-to-back bareback riding titles.
He won last year at the Bulls Broncs & Breakaway performance as a sophomore at Clarendon College where his father, National Finals Rodeo saddle bronc rider Bret Franks is the coach. He then made the decision to transfer to Missouri Valley College (MVC) in Marshall which has become as bareback riding university.
The moniker came after MVC produced many bareback riding champions in the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association that went on to have successful professional rodeo careers. The most well-known is Tim O’Connell who was the champion here in 2012. O’Connell now is not just an alumni at MVU, he also spends plenty of time helping at the college practices and as a three-time world champion and an eight-time National Finals Rodeo (NFR) qualifier, he has plenty of experience to draw from.
Franks took advantage of that experience and signed on as one of O’Connell’s traveling partners last summer. That helped the Clarendon, Texas resident qualify for his first NFR, win the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association Rookie of the Year title and finish the season in third place.
He is riding here with a broken wrist, but that didn’t stop him from his second consecutive first-round win. On Sunday afternoon at the Ford Wyoming Center, Franks got on the Frontier Rodeo horse named Delta Ship to 82.5 points for the win.
Franks is also the reigning all-around champion at the CNFR. He qualified in the saddle bronc riding again this year, but came off early, so will need to place high in the next two rounds to be eligible for that title. The first round of bareback riding, saddle bronc riding, bull riding and saddle bronc riding was completed during the Bulls, Broncs and Breakaway. Slack on Monday will see the first round completed in barrel racing and goat tying for the women as well as tie-down roping, and steer wrestling for the men. The first round of team roping, which can have both men and women will also be complete on Monday. Competition gets underway at 7 a.m.
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CASPER, Wyo.—The following are results from Bulls Broncs and Breakaway at the College National Finals Rodeo, June 12, 2022, courtesy of the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association. Complete results are available at www.collegerodeo.com.
Breakaway Roping: (first-round winners) 1, (tie) Kaytlyn Miller, Texas Tech University – Lubbock, and Delaney Kunau, University of Nevada – Las Vegas, 1.9 seconds each. 3, Alli Masters, Southwestern Oklahoma State University, 2.2. 4, Jayce Blake, Treasure Valley Community College, 2.3. 5, (tie) Sarah Angelone, Tarleton State University; Maddy Deerman, Tarleton State University; Wacey Day, Northeastern Junior College; and Gracely Speth, Cal Poly State University – San Luis Obispo; 2.4 seconds each.
Bareback Riding: (first round winners) 1, Cole Franks, Missouri Valley College, 82.5 points. 2, Myles Carlson, Casper College, 81.5. 3, Gauge McBride, Panola College, 80.5. 4, Ty Pope, Missouri Valley College, 79.5. 5, Weston Patterson, Clarendon College, 78. 6, (tie) Bradlee Miller, Sam Houston State University, and Tyler Griffin, Southeastern Oklahoma State University, 77.5. 8, Nick Pelke, Missouri Valley College, 77.0.
Saddle Bronc Riding: (first round winners) 1, Ryder Sanford, McNeese State University, 83.5 points. 2, Brody Wells, Tarleton State University, 80. 3, Cash Wilson, Tarleton State University, 79. 4, Quinten Taylor, Casper College, 78.5. 5, Jack Smithson, University of Tennessee – Martin, 76. 6, Quinten McWhorter, Cal Poly State University – San Luis Obispo, 75.5. 7, Weston Patterson, Clarendon College, 75. 8, (tie) Shea Fournier, McNeese State University, and Garrett Cunningham, Montana State University – Northern, 74.5.
Bull Riding: (first round winners – five qualified rides) 1, Casey Roberts, Three Rivers College, 79 points. 2, Andy Guzman, Mesalands Community College, 77.5. 3, Cole Skender, Three Rivers College, 75. 4, Luke Parkinson, Western Texas College, 72.5. 6, Brad Moreno, Central Arizona College, 68.5.
