Area collegiate athletes prepping for CNFR
Special to the Times | Lee Begaye
Crownpoint cowboy Tydon Tsosie slides onto the steer in this file photo during the 2026 Home of the Navajo PRCA Rodeo at the Dean C. Jackson Memorial Arena in Window Rock. Tsosie is scheduled to compete in the College National Finals Rodeo with the Northwestern Oklahoma State rodeo team.
CROWNPOINT
The College National Finals Rodeo gets underway on Sunday afternoon with a handful of Navajo student-athletes earning bids to compete.
The weeklong rodeo ends on Saturday, June 20 with all performances taking place at the Ford Wyoming Center in Casper, Wyoming. The championship round is scheduled for 7 p.m. on the final day of the competition.
Navajo Technical University qualified two bareback riders in Isaiah Tom and Alvaro Begay while Central Arizona College has team roper Rawley Ben Jr., making the finals. Diné College has tie-down roper Dean Holyan earning the school’s only qualification.
“This is a long time coming,” Holyan said of his first collegiate qualification. “I feel like I always deserved to be there, but the pieces never fell together for me, and I didn’t perform the way I should have.
“You know, it’s an honor to get it done with Diné College,” he added.
To read the full article, please see the June 11, 2026, edition of the Navajo Times.
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