Thrash Paces Storm Men to Third-Place Finish

DURANT, Okla. – Southeastern sent 12 men to the finals of its home rodeo, led by an event championship by Luke Thrash who took the top spot in the bareback competition to lead the men's team to a third-place team finish at the Betty Gayle Cooper Ratliff Memorial College Rodeo in Durant, Okla.
 
Thrash led a foursome of finals qualifiers for SE in the bareback, joining Braden Tyrer, Tyler Griffin, and Colton Matlock.
 
Thrash turned in an 80 on his first ride to win the opening round and reach the finals, adding a 75 on his second to finish second in the finals and lift him to an average championship.
 
Tyrer was next in line, finishing second in the first round with a ride of 72, but a 59 in round two would mean a sixth-place finish in the round and split fourth/fifth overall.
 
He would split that overall with Griffin who opened with a 58 in the first round before putting up a 73 on ride number two, finishing third in the round and splitting third/fourth in the average.
 
Matlock opened his competition with a 59 to split fifth/sixth in the first round, coming back with a 66 in the second round to finish fourth in the round and sixth in the average.
 
SE took two of the top four positions in the tie down roping, beginning with Blake Carter who won the first round with a 9.4, following it up with an 18.1 in the finals which was good for third in the final round and third for the average.
 
Jarvis Demery clocked an 11.3 in the first round to finish sixth in the first round and added an 18.5 in the finals to finish fourth in the round and fourth in the average.
 
IN the team roping, Houston Stephens and Tyler Scheevel would post a 7.9in the first round to finish ninth in the round, but bounced back with a 7.4 in the finals to finish third in the round and move up to third in the average.
 
Levi James and Garrett Hughes got off to a solid start with a 7.3 in the first round, finishing sixth in the round, but would take a no time in the final round to drop out of the average competition.
 
Demrey would turn in a 4.8 in the first round of the steer wrestling competition, finishing fourth in the round. He followed with a 7.2 in the finals which lifted him up to third in the average.
 
Caden Bunch would win the first round in the bull riding with an impressive 83-point ride, but an injury would keep him out of the finals, but with only two qualified rides he would finish second for the weekend.
 
Southeastern will be back in the arena Oct. 17-19 at the Oklahoma State Rodeo in Stillwater, Okla.