The Fresno State Bulldoggers club rodeo team will showcase the region’s top-ranked women’s team and third-ranked men’s team at its home rodeo Thursday and Friday, Nov. 12 and 13, at the Clovis Rodeo Grounds (748 Rodeo Dr.).
The opening round begins at 6 p.m. Nov. 12 with competitors randomly selected across 10 men’s and women’s events.
Competition on Nov. 13 continues at 8 a.m. with a slack round for the remaining participants and offers free admission. The short go, final round starts at 6 p.m. and features the top qualifiers from the preliminary sessions.
Tickets for the evening sessions are available online in advance through Nov. 11 ($15 for adults and $10 for Fresno State students with campus ID for each evening session, or $25 for both sessions). Tickets are $20 when purchased at the event. The event is free for veterans and youth ages 5 and under.
Post-rodeo evening concerts feature Brady Stovall on Nov. 12 and former team member Justin Lawrence on Nov. 13.
After the team opened its season at Feather River College with two events in early October, five individuals rank in the top four regionally in their events.
Junior Karsyn Patterson leads the women’s region standings in goat tying and freshman Lilly Thompson ranks third. Three men rank in the top four in their events – senior Jase Dewey (third, tie-down roping), junior William Boos (fourth, team roping header) and senior Garrett Mathias (fourth, team roping heeler).
The team will also compete at its final fall event hosted by Bakersfield College later in the weekend at the Kern County Fairgrounds on Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 14 and 15.
After additional spring events, the top two men’s and women’s teams from each region earn automatic invitations to the 2027 College National Finals Rodeo in Casper, Wyoming, June 13 through 19.
Students ranked in the top three in their events can also qualify individually from the 12 regions across the nation.
Three of the team’s returnees made their College National Finals Rodeo debuts in 2026 — Dewey (tie-down roping), Mathias (team roping heeler) and Collin Snyder (team roping heeler). While a student at West Hills College, Dewey also competed at the College National Finals Rodeo event in 2025 in team roping as a heeler and partnered with Fresno State’s Wilson Redfeairn.
The team is coached by Uhuru Adem, a two-time collegiate national finals saddle bronc qualifier for Fresno State. He has guided four men’s teams to College National Finals Rodeo bids, including a 13th-place finish in 2022, the Bulldoggers’ highest finish in recent history. The women’s team also placed 19th in 2022 and qualified again in 2024 after placing second in the region.
The program began 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 on the club’s Facebook and Instagram pages.
