SE Rodeo Opens Season Strong at KSU

MANHATTAN, Kan. – Southeastern rodeo opened its 2024-25 season with Tyler Griffin, Blake Carter, and Kayleah Hurst each picking up event titles while helping the men's and women's rodeo programs to matching second-place finishes at the Kansas State Rodeo in Manhattan, Kan.
 
The women were just 35 points off the top mark, while the men posted top-two finishes in both the bareback riding and the tie down roping.
 
In the bareback riding competition, Griffin put together a 75-point ride in the first round to place second and reach the final where he followed with an 80-point ride on Saturday night to win the round and average.
 
Braden Tryer was right on Griffin's heels, first posting a 73 in the long-go, finishing fifth, before following up with a 79 in the finals to finish three points behind Griffin in the average in second place.
 
The pair were also joined in the finals by Grant Worthington, Luke Thrash, and Colton Matlock.
 
Worthington turned in rides of 72 and 72, splitting fourth/fifth in the average; Thrash was next in line with marks of 65 and 74 to finish sixth in the average; while Matlock posted a 70 and a 69 to finish tied for sixth with Thrash.
 
SE would add a second one-two sweep in the tie down roping, beginning with Carter who clocked a 10.2 in his first run to win the long-go before trimming that down to an 8.1 in the finals to win that round as well, sweeping his way to the average title.
 
Jarvis Demrey was a tick slower on his first ride, finishing seventh with a time of 12.5 but responded with an 8.8 in the finals to finish second in the round and move into second in the average.

SE's women were nearly as dominant in the goat tying as the men were in the bareback riding.
 
Hurst would lead a group of four who qualified for the finals, posting a 7.4 in the first round to win the round and following it up with a 6.8 in the finals, marking the fastest time for any competitor in the event on the weekend, and wining the round and the average.
 
Emma Ricke would post a 7.8 in the first round to finish seventh, followed by Grace Collins in eighth with a run of 8.2, and Jillian Pressley splitting ninth with an 8.3.
 
Unfortunately, of the three, only Pressley would record a time in the finals, but an issue dismounting would see that time reach 23.0 and take her out of the average.
 
In the barrel racing, Jaiden Wilmoth clocked an opening run of 15.6 to finish second in the long-go, followed by a 15.72 in the finals to split fourth in the round and finish second in the average for the event.
 
Ricke clocked a time of 15.65 in the first round in the barrels to finish fourth in the round, and followed it up with a 15.94 in the finals which was good for sixth in the round and sixth in the average.
 
SE was represented in a trio of pairs in the team roping finals, led by Levi James and Garrett Hughes who turned in an 8.7 in the first round, finishing seventh, before improving to a 6.3 in the finals, winning that round and moving up to third in the average.
 
Cutter Cain and his partner Jordan Lovins from Western Oklahoma State split fifth/sixth in the first round with a time of 7.8, but would take a no time in the finals to fall out of the average.
 
Sid Harvey and his partner Colt Thomason from Murray State would suffer a similar fate, coming back in 12^th after a 12.8 in the first round due to a missed leg penalty before suffering a no time in the finals.
 
Rodney Jackson would reach the finals in the steer wrestling, splitting seventh in the first round on a time of 6.6 before cutting that down to a 5.6 in the finals, splitting fifth and moving up to fourth in the average.
 
Brett Coffman would reach the finals in the saddle bronc riding with a first-round ride of 68, but was unable to make the bell in the finals to take a no score.
 
In the bull riding, no one was able to finish off a ride in the long-go, and on a draw back Waylon Burquoi would earn a shot and take advantage, becoming the only rider to finish a ride on the weekend, posting a score of 82.
 
SE sent a pair of qualifiers to the finals in the breakaway, as Pressley advanced in her second event and posted a 2.5 to open and split fourth before closing the weekend with a 2.7 to finish third in the finals and split third in the average.
 
Ricke advanced to the finals in all three events, posting a 2.7 in the breakaway roping to finish seventh and make the finals, but would miss in the final run to dip out of the average.
 
Southeastern rodeo will be back in action Sept. 12-14 when it travels to Colby, Kan., for the Colby CC Rodeo.