The Fresno State Bulldoggers club rodeo team will send seven men’s and women’s student-athletes against the nation’s best at the College National Finals Rodeo from June 14 to 20 in Casper, Wyoming.
The ESPN+ app will broadcast the events live each night from the Ford Wyoming Center starting Tuesday, June 16. A final round recap will air later in the summer at 5 and 6 p.m. on Aug. 18, and again at 10 and 11 a.m. on Aug. 20.
The men’s team earned a bid thanks to a second-place West Coast Region finish. It will be its fourth trip as a team to the national event under coach Uhuru Adem after a regional win in 2019 and runner-up regional placings in 2022 and 2025.
The women’s team placed third in the West Coast Region this season and missed a national bid by one place. Its regional effort marked its fourth straight top-three finish, which included a runner-up regional finish and national team bid in 2024.
In the national individual rankings, senior Tyler Jones (of Friant) is the top-ranked Fresno State performer with a No. 9 ranking in the team roping header category and a No. 19 ranking in the all-around category.
Jones will also compete in steer wrestling.
Fresno State’s other top-25-ranked competitor, junior Tanner Kerr (Red Bluff), will compete in tie-down roping after he ranked 18th nationally.
Other Fresno State men’s competitors include senior Brayden Liberio (Caliente) in bull riding, junior Jase Dewey (Riverdale) in tie down roping, junior Garrett Mathias (Waterford) in team roping heeler and freshman Collin Snyder (Wilton) in team roping heeler.
In the season’s West Coast Regional rankings, Jones led the team roping header and all-around standings and stood fourth in saddle-bronc riding. Kerr ranked second in tie-down roping, and Liberio stood third in bull riding.
Senior Kendall Patterson (Clovis) will compete for the women’s team in team roping after she ranked fifth in the region.
One other Fresno State women’s athlete, freshman Presley Cooper (Livermore), ranked fourth in the region in goat tying and missed a national bid by one position.
Jones has competed at the national collegiate event each of his prior three seasons, as did Kerr and Liberio in their first seasons for Fresno State in 2025.
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.
The Bulldoggers have been coached since the 2017-18 season by Adem, a two-time, collegiate national finals saddle-bronc qualifier for Fresno State. In that span, the men’s team enjoyed a No. 13 finish in 2022, and the women’s team placed 19th that season.
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.
