By: Justin Hargrove, Assistant Athletic Director
The Northeast Texas Community College (NTCC) Team Roping Duo of Kelon Andrews, and Hayden Sanders are heading back to Casper, Wyoming to compete for the College National Finals Rodeo (CNFR)Team Roping Title.
For Andrews this will be his third trip to the CNFR and Sanders will make his second appearance. The CNFR will be held at the Ford Wyoming Center in Casper, Wyoming June 14th-June 20th. The position draw was held on Sunday, June 7, 2026 with each team getting two slack days and one event day. The finals will be held on Saturday, June 20th at 7:00pm Mountain time.
The Finals will start on Sunday with Bulls, Broncs, and Ladies Breakaway roping with two sessions, the first at 1:00pm and second at 4:00pm. The remaining events slack will start at 7:00am on Monday, with Team Roping being the final event each day. The duo of Andrews and Sanders drew the 48th position of 57 teams. On Tuesday slack will begin at 7:00am with Team Roping again being the final event, but this time they reverse the order and Kelon and Hayden will be the 10th team out.
The team will then have off until the Friday night Rodeo, which will begin at 7:00pm Mountain time. There will be plenty to do in Casper for the pair as Team Ropers will get some arena time on Friday, June 12th from 2:30pm-4:00pm. On Saturday, the Cinch Arm Band Ceremony will be held next door to the Ford Wyoming center at the WYO Sports Ranch at 6:00pm. Each day in the WYO Sports Ranch and Ford Center there will be booths with merchandise for sale.
On Wednesday morning the annual coed softball tournament will be held with each region making up teams of all the cowgirls and cowboys who qualified in their respective regions. Thursday morning the golf tournament returns after a one-year hiatus. On Friday morning, the NIRA Coaches breakfast will be held at the Ramkota Hotel. Saturday morning will feature a Special Olympics Rodeo, Head Shots for TV for the finals contestants, and the Cinch Style Show.
This will be the final time for both Kelon and Hayden to compete for the Eagles, Andrews will move on to East Texas A&M University to continue his rodeo career, and Sanders will transfer to Sam Houston State University to compete as well.
