For the last 77 years, Sul Ross State University has held one of the most premier rodeo events of the season.

On Day 1 of the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association Southwest Region Rodeo on Thursday night at the S.A.L.E. Arena, the student-athletes of Sul Ross put on a good performance for a large, energetic crowd.

"It's pretty neat having a crowd that energetic, cheering for all our guys and stuff. That's pretty awesome. You don't see that anywhere else," said Sul Ross head coach C.J. Aragon.

Putting together a score of 81 on his ride, senior Tristen Hutchings sits atop the bull riding competition.

Calm, cool and collected, Hutchings delivered a solid performance.

There's no surprise that he's ranked seventh in the world in bull riding with earnings topping $114,902 on the pro circuit.

"I drew a good bull and it went good. Just did my job," he said. "It's really good to do well here when people are watching."

Hutchings also had a time of 4.7 seconds in the steer wrestling competition to finish second behind Logan Kenline of South Plains College who had a time of 4.2.

"We expect Tristen to do well. He's just out doing his job. He makes it look easy. It's pretty much what he does for a living now," said Aragon.

In the barrel racing competition, Laura Fairchild had a good ride as she finished with a time of 16.77 seconds to finish in third place.

Clarendon's Brayleigh McGinely had a second-place ride with a time of 16.73 while Ashlyn Goven of New Mexico Junior College clocked in at 16.04 to finish in first.

"She's a freshman, so I think last week nerves kind of got the best of her, and this week she made a nice run. That was nice," said Aragon about Fairchild's ride.

Other notable athletes that competed on the first night include graduate student Brandon Lansford (saddle bronc), Cole Hollen (bareback riding) and senior Rocky Rodriguez (goat tying).

Not all the scores were made available at the end of the event.

Rodriguez had a time of 9.3. The leader of the goat tying competition is Laken Warr of Frank Phillips College who recorded a time of 8.2.

Sul Ross still has plenty of competition left before the finals take place on Saturday.

"If we do what we're supposed to do and take care of our business — we'll be fine," said Aragon. "That's what we're going to try to do tomorrow is just have our kids keep doing what we've been practicing to do and what they've been working to do for over a month now."

>> UP NEXT: Competition resumes at 9 a.m. Friday with slack followed up by a performance at 7 p.m.

>> WATCH LIVE: The performances will be streamed on the Cowboy Channel and on the Cowboy Channel + app.