Griffin, Earnhardt Lead Storm Rodeo at Home Event

DURANT, Okla. – Tyler Griffin took home the bareback riding championship, while Southeastern's men's and women's team posted matching third-place finishes at its home rodeo over the weekend.
 
Griffin opened his weekend with a 79-point ride to win the long-go and blew that score out of the water in the finals with a ride of 88 to win the finals and the average, lifting him to second place in the region.
 
Kayla Earnhardt paced the women's team with her effort in the goat tying. Opening the weekend with a run of 7.9 which split third/fourth before coming back with an 8.5 in the finals to finish third in the round and the average, moving her to fifth in the region in the event.
 
She was joined in the goat tying finals by Bailey Witt who finished eighth in the first round with a run of 8.3. She would post a matching 8.3 in the finals which was good for second there and lifted her to fourth in the average and moved her to third in the Central Plains Region standings.
 
Hannah Giger and Mataya Eklund are each also regionally ranked in the top-15 in the goat tying.
 
Back on the men's side, Caden Bunch led the way in the bull riding with an 83-point ride in the first round which won the round, and after no one made the eight-second count in the finals, it would give him the average win as well, lifting him to second place in the region.
 
In the saddle bronc riding Tyler Pruitt opened his weekend with a 56-point ride and advanced in seventh place before finishing third in the finals with a ride of 68 which moved him up to third in the average and improved him to fifth in the region.
 
Montana Duvall joined Griffin in the finals of the bareback riding after splitting second/third with a ride of 75 in the first round before bumping it up to a 76 in the finals which was good for fifth in the round and third in the average, helping him to a fourth-place-ranking regionally.
 
Josh Green joined the pair in the finals but took a no score there and moved to ninth in the region, while Luke Thrash moved to eighth.
 
SE sent a trio of steer wrestlers to the finals where Gus Franzen led the way after turning in a 5.5 in the opening round which ranked 12^th, he followed up with a 4.7 in the finals which split fourth/fifth in the round and was good for fifth in the average. He is currently 10^th in the region.
 
He was joined by Garrett Elmore who split fifth/sixth in the first round with a time of 4.9, but a 6.0 in the finals would move him to seventh place in the round and the average as he moved to number 14 in the region standings.
 
Jaedyn Winters also made his way to the finals after a 5.3 would split ninth/10^th in the first round and he would finish the weekend with a 5.6 on Saturday night which placed sixth place in the round and seventh in the average. He is currently 15^th regionally, while Quint Bell is the top ranked steer wrestler and Tyler Ravenscroft is ranked eighth.
 
Elmore also advanced in the tie down roping after his first run of 10.1 placed fifth. He would be forced to take a no time in the finals after his rope was interfered with on his breakout.
 
In the barrel racing, Eklund would reach the finals after posting a first-round run of 17.86 which ranked seventh, and she would close her competition with a 17.65 in the finals which ranked fourth in the round and fifth in the average.
 
Katelyn Hobbie is ranked fourth in the region in the barrels, while Earnhardt and Eklund are splitting ninth.
 
And despite not sending anyone to the finals in the breakaway roping, SE has a pair of regionally ranked ropers with Giger holding fourth place while Hannah Hughes is ranked sixth.