Pruitt Leads Men at KSU Rodeo

MANHATTAN, Kan. – Southeastern jumped back into action this spring with a trip to the Kansas State Rodeo where Tyler Pruitt picked up a win in the saddle bronc riding event as the Savage Storm men finishing second as a team while the women suffered some setbacks while still managing a sixth-place finish.
 
Pruitt put together a 65 point ride on his first trip out, splitting 4^th/5^th/6^th, but he came out firing in the finals with an 81 to win the round and come back to split the average championship as well.
 
The SE rough stock success continued as Tyler Griffen and Luke Thrash had a great showing in the bareback.
 
Thrash opened with a 64 point ride which was good for seventh place and a trip back to the finals, while Griffen was one point better in the first round with a 65 to finish sixth and join Thrash in the finals.
 
Thrash would come up with the better run in the final where he carded a 78 point ride which was good enough to win the round and moved him up to second place in the average.
 
Griffen was not far off with a 74 in the short go which was good for second in the round and lifted him to third in the average.
 
In the steer wrestling, Garrett Elmore would pick up a first-round win with a time of 3.9, but would turn out for the short go as he was competing in the prelims for The American.
 
SE was still well represented in the finals of the steer wrestling as Mason Couch and Gus Franzen each clocked times of 5.4 to split sixth place and reach the finals.
 
Once in the finals, Couch would turn in a run of 5.2 which was fifth in the round and moved him to fourth overall in the average, while Franzen posted a 13.2 in the finals which moved him to sixth in the average with a sixth place finish in the final.
 
Franzen would also compete in the tie down roping where his time of 10.1 in the first round would earn him a trip to the finals after splitting 2^nd/3^rd/4^th, but a no time in the finals would take him out of the running in the average.
 
McKade Wickett would team with Northeastern Oklahoma A&M's Kyle Thomas in the team roping and the dup would reach the finals after and eighth-place run in the long go with a time of 6.3. A matching 6.3 run in the final was good for fifth in the round and lifted the pair to fifth in the average.
 
On the women's side, a pair of Storm competitors suffered unfortunate mishaps with their horses, forcing them out of competition and as such SE sent two riders to the finals.
 
In the goat tying, Grace Collings split 10^th/11^th/12^th in the first round with a time of 7.3 and would come back in the finals with a 7.1 to ninth in the round and eighth in the average.
 
Bailey Witt would advance in the breakaway after a 2.8 in her first run which split 2^nd/3^rd, but a no time in the final would drop her to eighth in the average.