SE Finalizes CNFR Plans With Strong Weekend Performance

COLBY, Kan. – Southeastern saved its best team performance for the final rodeo of the year as the men's squad scored 480 points at the Colby CC Rodeo to win the weekend, while the women turned in a second-place finish.
 
The men's effort was especially big as it outscored rival Southwestern Oklahoma State 480-to-410 over the weekend, which lifted them to a 27-point edge in the regional standings as the Savage Storm passed the Bulldogs for second place and a team berth at the College National Finals Rodeo.
 
Southeastern will now be sending a total of eight to the CNFR in June, with six men and two women making the trip.
 
Dylan Riggins will compete in the bareback riding, while Wyatt Rogers and Mason Ward will both compete in the bull riding event. Rogers took home the top spot in the Central plains region among bull riders and finished the regular season ranked third nationally.
 
Gus Franzen and Holden Myers will also double up in the steer wrestling, while Kolton White advances in the team roping as a healer, but will have to take on a new heading partner due to the separate standings for headers and heelers in the event.
 
And while the women finished third as a team regionally, just missing a team qualification, they will be represented as Cara Hilzendeger will compete in the goat tying and Katelyn Hobbie will run in the barrel racing.
 
To qualify regionally as a team, the team must finish first or second in that region, while individuals can earn a berth to the CNFR by finishing in the top-three in the region in their event.
 
At the Coby CC Rodeo specifically, saw Southeastern post 14 individual finals team as well as sending two team, roping duos for a total of 18 competitors competing on Sunday.
 
The men's team had its best showing in the tie down roping where five ropers made the trip back to the finals.
 
Laramie Warren had the best weekend of that group, posting an 8.9 in the first round before closing out the weekend with a 12.6 to finish third in the long-go and third in the average.
 
Rogers turned in a 10.0- run to finish sixth in the long-go, while Myers was seventh with a 10.1.  Tori Huffman and McKade Wickett each made it, splitting 9^th-10^th with a time of 10.3.
 
Unfortunately, all four of those ropers would record no times in the finals, taking them out of the average competition.
 
Franzen posted one of Southeastern's three average championships on the weekend, opening the steer wrestling competition with a 3.7 to split 1^st/2^nd in the opening round.  He would follow that up with a 4.8 in the finals, finishing third in the round but lifting him to first place overall in the average.
 
He was joined by White and Craig Parks in the finals in the steer wrestling.
 
Parks was fourth with a 4.8 in the long-go and improved his mark to 4.5 in the finals which was good for second in the round and lifted him to third in the average for the weekend.
 
White brought his first steer down in 4.1 to finish third in the round, but had a tougher time in the finals with a 10.0, dropping him to sixth in the average.
 
Katelyn Hobbie picked up the team's second average championship on the weekend, doing so in the barrel racing. She opened the weekend with a run of 16.10 to finish second and shaved time off that in the finals with a 16.04 to win the finals round and pick up a win in the average.
 
The performance moved her up to third place regionally and qualified her for her first CNFR.
 
The third championship also came on the women's side as Martie Shockley split 9^th/10^th in the first round with a 7.7 in the goat tying competition. She provided an encore in the form of a 6.5 in the finals to win the round and the average.
 
Unfortunately, her points were not enough to qualify for the CNFR, instead finishing in fourth place in the region.
 
Hilzendeger had already secured her CNFR spot in the goat tying and finished eighth in the first round with a 7.8. She followed that up with a 6.7 in the finals to finish second in the round and second in the average, both behind Shockley, and her points were enough to lift her from third to second in the final regional standings.
 
Bailey Witt posted a 7.4 in the first round to finish second in the round, but her goat slipped her rope in the finals, giving her a no time and taking her out of the average.
 
Back on the men's side the team roping event saw two Storm duos make the finals.
 
The first group of Wickett and White clocked a 7.0 in the long-go to finish seventh, while the pair of Laramie Warren and KW Adair were right behind with a 7.1 to finish ninth in the round.
 
Warren and Adair would take a no time in the final, taking them out of the average and ultimately the men's team's regional fate rested on Wickett and White's finish.
 
The pair ran a 10.8 despite taking a five-second penalty, and every team following them either missed or took a 10-second barrier penalty, allowing them to move up to third in the average and giving the men's team enough points to pass Southwestern in the region.
 
In the bareback riding, Riggins 5^th/6^th in the first round with a score of 65 and followed it up with a 70 in the finals to finish fifth in the round and fifth in the average.
 
He would end the year in second place in the region.
 
Kaycee Hollingback rounded out the Storm finalists for the weekend, posting a 2.1 in the breakaway roping to split 2^nd/3^rd in the long-go.
 
She would take a 10-second barrier penalty in the finals and finish the round with a 12.4, finishing sixth in the round and sixth in the average. That finish also meant that she just missed the top three in the region, finishing 17 points out of qualifying for the CNFR.