Eklund, Elmore Shine at OSU Rodeo

DURANT, Okla. – Mataya Eklund took home a pair of individual championships, including the women's All-Around title, while Garrett Elmore earned an event championship of his own as Southeastern men's squad tied for the team title and the women finished second at the Oklahoma State Rodeo in Stillwater, Okla., over the weekend.
 
Eklund opened her breakaway competition with a 2.2 run to split first with teammate Hannah Hughes. She followed with a 2.6 in the finals, splitting third-place in the round and earned a share of the championship in the breakaway roping.
 
She made her second finals appearance in the barrel racing where she opened the competition with a 16.18 to finish fifth in the long go.  She would come back in the finals and suffer penalties and finish with a 21.77 which took her out of the overall competition and left her eighth while still helping her to an all-around title.
 
Elmore split first place in the long go of the tie down roping after securing his calf with a time of 8.0. He would pick up that pace in the finals, dropping the flag in a time of 7.6 which one the round and gave him the tie down championship for the weekend.
 
He was joined the finals of the tie down by Rowdy Nimrod who caught his first calf in 8.9 which was good for fourth place. In the finals he posted an 11.9 which was good for seventh in the round and he would finish seventh in the average.
 
Back in the breakaway, Hughes would advance to the finals in the first-place split in the long go after a time of 2.2. Unfortunately, she would break the barrier on her finals run and finish with a time of 12.3 which dropped her to eighth for the weekend.
 
Back on the men's side, Tyler Griffin opened the bareback riding competition with a seventh-place ride of 64 in the long go. He would come back with a big improvement, landing a 76 in the finals and winning the round while bumping up to third place in the average.
 
Over in the saddle bronc competition, Bryan Moreno got off to a solid start with a score of 72 which was good for fifth in the opening round. However, he would miss the whistle on his second ride and would ultimately finish eighth place for the weekend.
 
The Storm would bounce back in the steer wrestling as a pair of cowboys made the finals, with Mason Couch turning in a 4.6 to split fourth/fifth while Gus Franzen posted a time of 6.1 to split 9^th-through-11^th. Couch would come back with a 4.8 in the finals which was good for sixth in the round and fourth overall in the average, while Franzen finished his weekend with a 4.2 in the finals which was good for second in the round and sixth in the average.
 
McKade WIckett rounded out the men's finals participants as he would team with Northeastern Oklahoma A&M's Kyle Thomas in the team roping.  The pair would open with a time of 6.9 to finish seventh in the long go, and follow that up with a 20.5 in the finals after suffering 15 seconds worth of penalties, but were still able to finish seventh in the round and the average.
 
The women's squad rounded out its weekend with a trio of goat tying finalists in Martie Shockley, Bailey Witt, and Cara Hilzendeger.  Shockley opened with a 6.7 on her first run to finish second in the opening round, and followed with a 6.8 in the finals which was good for third in the round and second overall for the weekend. Hilzendeger was next in line for the weekend overall after turning in a 7.2 in the first round to finish fourth and adding a 7.9 to split sixth in the finals, combining to split fourth in the average. Witt rounded out the trio by opening her competition with a time of 7.2 which was good for fourth in the long go and adding a 7.9 in the finals which ranked sixth in the round and moved her to seventh in the average.
 
Southeastern rodeo will be back in the arena Oct. 28-30 when it travels to Alva, Okla., for the Northwestern Oklahoma State Rodeo.