BROOKINGS – South Dakota State started the Spring schedule of the 2016-17 rodeo season off in stellar fashion as the SDSU men won the 63rd annual Jackrabbit Stampede team title as the women placed second.
The Jackrabbit men, in seventh place in the Great Plains Region standings heading into the weekend, scored 455 points to edge the top team in the region, Mid-Plains Community College, by 20 points.
The South Dakota State women, who are second in the standings behind Black Hills State University, finished with 475 points to the Yellow Jackets’ 675 total.
“I’m proud of this team for winning four events; the men winning the team championship and the women taking second place,” said SDSU rodeo coach Ron Skovly. “That’s a lot to ask at your home rodeo with all the labor involved with set up and the production.
“The women’s team picked up where they left off last fall with a great rodeo and the men’s team looked better than any rodeo yet this year. Thank you to all the sponsors for supporting SDSU Rodeo and the fans for coming to watch again this year.”
Jim Bob Ellsworth won the bareback event – adding a 71 in the finals to his 81 in the first go for a two-run total of 152 points – which gave the Jacks 180 points in the team race.
After a third-place run of 12.1 seconds in the first go-round, Gannon Gustafson clocked a 14.4 in the finals to win the tie down roping event with a two-run total of 26.5 seconds as he scored 150 team points.
Pearson Wientjes had the fastest tie down time in the first go – 11.0 seconds – but came up empty in the finals to finish fourth overall, which added 90 points to the team score. He also finished fifth in the team roping with Trey Richter as the cowboys added a 17.3-second run in the finals for a two-run total of 29.4 seconds – good for 35 more team points.
Individually for the SDSU men, Ryan Knutson’s 70-point bull ride in the first go was good for second, which carried over when no cowboy had a timed ride in the finals.
Jeremiah Johnson finished sixth in the finals of steer wrestling with a time of 10.8 seconds.
On the women’s side, Jacey Hupp won the goat tying event with a two-run time of 12.2 seconds as she had the fastest go-round in 6.2 and finals – 6.0. Her win gave the women 180 teams points, while Hope Petry added 115 as she tied for third with a two-run time of 13.2 seconds. The SDSU cowgirl was second in the go-round at 6.5 seconds, and then, added a 6.7-second run in the finals.
Madison Rau won the barrel racing with a two-run time of 27.13 seconds. She was second in both the go-round (13.53) and finals (13.60) as she added 160 points to the women’s team total.
Braelee Aus had the fastest time in the finals of the breakaway roping – 3.1 seconds – which gave her a two-run total of 6.0 seconds, which was good for third in the event and gave the women 120 team points.
Dani Aus finished sixth overall in the breakaway event with a two-run time of 13.8 seconds (2.5 and 11.3), which added 60 points to the team total.
The Jackrabbits compete in the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Rodeo on Friday and Saturday.
