RAPID CITY - For hundreds of collegiate cowboys and cowgirls at the College National Finals Rodeo in Casper, Wyo., this weekend is the culmination of a year's worth of training and competition. It's also a chance to get together and enjoy the close-knit nature of the rodeo community.

"I think I was actually more nervous for the high school finals," National American University team roping heeler Jessica Hemphill, a freshman, said. "This week will be fun because there will be a lot of people that you haven't seen for a year and you can kind of catch up and enjoy the week."

Hemphill is a member of the National American University women's rodeo team, the eighth-ranked team in the 128-member National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association. Top qualifiers from a field of more than 3,300 women's and men's contestants representing 142-member colleges and universities in 11 regions across the United States and four Canadian provinces will take part in the rodeo beginning Monday. This is the 59th year for the CNFR, which was first held in 1949 at San Francisco's Cow Palace.

The Mavericks are taking five female contestants to the CNFR, to be held at the Casper Events Center for the eighth time in the past nine years, and head coach Glen Lammers feels good about his team's chances.

"We're excited about the finals," Lammers said. "We think we've got the potential to do some good things. We're taking a group with a lot of experience out there."

The ladies representing the Mavericks this year at the CNFR include Jessica Painter, who helped the team to a second-place finish at last year's event by winning the national championship in breakaway roping. Painter missed qualifying for the finals in that event this year, but the Great Plains region's second-ranked goat tying competitor will try her luck in that event this year.

"We've got some good talent with the girls we're taking," Hemphill said of her teammates. "We should be able to get in the top 5 I think pretty easy."

Her coach believes that is a realistic goal as well.

"I don't like to get into predicting these things," Lammers said. "But I don't see any reason that we can't be right there as far as competing for the national championship."

Painter is joined on this year's CNFR contingent by Krista Minow, the 19th-ranked barrel racer in the NIRA; Lacey Curr, fourth in goat tying in the region; Hemphill, No. 2 heeler in the region in team roping and Jena Lien, the fifth-ranked barrel racer in the region.

Lien, Painter and Hemphill were the Great Plains region's second-, third- and fourth-ranked all-around cowgirls for the 2006-07 season, respectively. The three Maverick cowgirls trail South Dakota State's Jacquelyn Murray.

"They're all very good all-around cowgirls," Lammers said. "That's the strength of this team. They're all good at numerous events."

Lien suffered a broken wrist earlier in the spring that derailed her a bit, causing her to qualify in just one event.

"She was a big point scorer for us," Hemphill said of Lien. "We'll be shooting for No. 1 but with her injury that's going to make it a lot tougher."

The student athletes that qualify for the national finals will also be competing for over $200,000 in scholarships from the U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Company's Scholarship Awards Program.

All performances begin at 7 p.m., including the Saturday Championship Round. Slack will be held on Monday, June 11th and Tuesday, June 12th at 7 a.m, with a special 'Bulls 'n Broncs Only' on Sunday June 10th, at a 4 p.m.