Five men’s and women’s student-athletes from the Fresno State Bulldoggers club rodeo team will compete against the nation’s best at the College National Finals Rodeo, Sunday, June 9 to Saturday, June 15 in Casper, Wyoming.

The women’s team will make its fourth nationals trip since 2015 after it ranked 17th nationally and second in the West Coast to claim the final qualifying spot from the region.

MBA student Hailey Wilbur (Lodi) will make her second appearance at the event after ranking second in the region in goat-tying overall season points and leading in average. She also competed at the national event in 2022 in breakaway roping.

Three other women’s team members will make their debuts after ranking top five in the region in their events: graduate student McKenna Wood (Hollister, team roping header, second) and  freshmen Sage Pearce (Santa Maria, breakaway roping, fourth) and Madisen Biglow (Clements, goat tying, fifth).

In national event rankings, Wilbur stands 17th, and Wood and Pearce rank 22nd and 25th, respectively, in their events.

Sophomore Tyler Jones (Friant) also qualified individually for the men’s team after he stood third regionally and 25th nationally in the team roping header standings. 

This season, he led the men’s team to a fifth-place region finish, and ranked seventh individually in the region in saddle bronc and eighth all-around.

Jones was a College National Finals Rodeo qualifier in team roping in 2023 after being named the West Coast Region Rookie of the Year. 

Students who are ranked top three in their events from the combined season results automatically qualify for the collegiate nationals from the 11 regions across the nation.

ESPN3 will broadcast all performances from Tuesday, June 11 through Saturday, June 15. Additional programs will be shown later in the summer on ESPNU.

The team is coached by Uhuru Adem, a two-time, collegiate national finals saddle bronc qualifier for Fresno State. The fifth-year team coach guided the men’s team to a 13th-place finish in 2022, and the women’s team placed 19th that season.

Fresno State also finished in the top 20 women’s team rankings in 2016 (10th) and 2015 (12th).

The program started in 1946 and officially became a club in 1949 — the same year the first collegiate national finals were held in San Francisco.

More information on the team is available at its Facebook and Instagram pages.