OPSU Communications
Erika Chartrand
FORT HAYS, Kan. — The short round this past weekend was painted in red and blue as Oklahoma Panhandle State University had 23 team members qualify. Jade Taton won the All-Around title on the men’s side. Both the men’s and the women’s team won second overall.
Taton had a score of 69 points in the first round and won the second round with a score of 73 points. With a cumulative score of 142 on two, Taton won the bareback riding title.
Panhandle State finally kicked it in gear in the tie-down roping this weekend with three Aggies making it into the short round. Wyatt Murray won the long round with a time of 10.2 seconds. Murray was then a 12.1 in the short round placing him fourth in the average. Whitt Crozier and Trace Bell also had 10 second runs in the long round, but weren’t as quick in the short round putting them out of the average.
Two Panhandle State cowgirls made it back in the breakaway roping. Caitlyn Wiswell had the second fastest time of the rodeo in the long round, 2.7 seconds. Wiswell unfortunately had some troubles in the short round, but still placed sixth in the round and sixth in the average. Hagen Brunson made two solid runs this weekend, 3.0 and 3.5 placing her third in the short round and tied for second in the average.
Taton won his All-Around title due to his great performance in the bareback riding and saddle bronc riding. Taton scored 72 points in the long round placing him in a four-way tie for second. Taton then tied for first with teammate McKoy Christiansen with a score of 76 points. Taton split the average win. Christiansen placed fourth in the average. Sam Martin placed fifth in the average. Cooper Thatcher placed sixth in the average. Denton Ward and Dawson Dahm were also in the short round.
Lane Giovanetti was the only Panhandle State cowboy to make it back in the steer wrestling. Giovanetti tied for first place in the long round with a time of 4.8 seconds. Giovanetti then placed fifth in the short round and fifth in the average.
The girls in the goat tying had another successful weekend. Kaylee Smith left with another goat tying title. Smith had the second fastest time of the rodeo in the long round, 6.9 seconds, and tied teammate Linzie Van Horn with the fastest time of the short round, 7.2 seconds. Van Horn placed fourth in the average. Beau Peterson won second in the average with two solid times of 7.1 and 7.4 seconds. Sierra Smith tied for sixth in the average.
Three teams were present in the short round of the team roping. Cousins Wyatt Murray and Whitt Crozier placed fifth in the long round but had no luck in the short round. Luke Meier and his partner from FSCC, and Bailey Brown and her partner Taylor Jacobson all made it back to the short round, but unfortunately did not get times in the short round.
Once again, Dustin Martinez won the rodeo in the bull riding. Martinez split second in the long round with a score of 79 points and placed second in the short round with 83 points giving him the average win.
Panhandle State Rodeo would like to give a special mention to a very important teammate that has led us to many victories, Rambo. Coach Robert Etbauer’s stud horse has once again won horse of the year in the central plains region. Rambo was used in the steer wrestling as a haze horse for many competitors this past weekend and was also used in both the tie-down roping and breakaway roping. Rambo will be present at the Doc Gardner Memorial Rodeo coming up this weekend. Watch for him in several events as well as the Aggie spirit rider’s horse.
The Panhandle State Rodeo Team is excited to be competing in front of their own crowd this weekend and invite you to come watch the last rodeo of the year as they strive to keep the winning tradition alive!