Eight Reach Finals at SWOSU Rodeo

WEATHERFORD, Okla. – Southeastern continues to challenge regionally after sending eight competitors to the finals over the weekend at the Southwestern Oklahoma State Rodeo in Weatherford, Okla., with seven earning top-5 finishes.
 
Martie Shockley led that group with her efforts in the goat tying, turning in an 8.1 in the long go to finish fourth before coming back in the finals with a 7.9, winning the round and splitting the top spot in the average.
 
The goat tying proved to be one of the team's better events as she was joined in the finals by Cara Hilzendeger who finished fifth in the opening round with an 8.2, and followed it up with an 8.6 on Saturday to finish third in the round and fifth in the average.
 
The finish lifted Hilzendeger to third-place in the Central Plains Region in the goat tying competition, while Shockley moves up to fourth, followed by Bailey Witt in fifth and Cierra Doyal in sixth.
 
Staying on the women's side, Katelyn Hobbie clocked a 16.60 in the barrel racing long-go, winning the round. She followed that up with a 16.79 in the finals and finished sixth in the round and fifth overall in the average.
 
Hobbie is holding onto second place in the region.
 
On the men's side, Wyatt Rogers posted a 74 on his first ride in the bull riding, earning fourth in the round. He upped his place in the finals with a ride of 72, finishing second in the round and second overall in the average.
 
Rogers paces the Central Plains region in the bull riding, while Mason Ward is tanked fourth, and Kolton White is next in line in fifth.
 
Holden Myers added a runner-up finish for the weekend in the steer wrestling, opening the weekend with a 5.8 to split 4^th/5^th in the long-go. He came back in the finals with a 6.6 which was good for second in the round and lifted him to second in the average for the weekend.

Tori Huffman got off to a great start in with a 5.0 int he first round to win the round and make the finals, but was saddled with a no time int he finals, taking him out of the average.
 
The finish helped lift him to third in the region, while Gus Franzen is ranked 11^th and the pair of Huffman and Cord McDaniel are tied for 14^th.
 
Garrett Koester teamed with Dawson Mitchell from Connors State in the team roping, opening their weekend with an 8.7 to finish eighth in the first round.  The duo snagged a five-second penalty in the finals and carded a 14.0 but were still good enough to finish third in the round and move up to third overall in the average.
 
The finish moved Koester up to 11^th regionally among heelers.
 
Dylan Riggins turned in a pair of rides in the bareback competition, finishing third in the first round with a score of 71, and following that up with a ride of 67 in the second round which was good for sixth in the round and fifth overall in the average.
 
Riggins's finish helped him move to third regionally.
 
White in the tie down roping would round out the competitors after clocking a 10.9 in the long-go to finish sixth.  He followed that up with a 12.6 in the finals which earned him a sixth-place finish there as well, and a sixth-place finish in the average.
 
Rush Hodges leads the Storm in the tie down regionally as he is ranked 11^th.
 
Both Southeastern's men's and women's teams are ranked third in the Central Plains Region following the SWOSU Rodeo, with a trip to Hays, Kan., for the Ft. hays State Rodeo next up on April 16-18.