From Staff Reports

Southeastern made the familiar trek to Weatherford over the weekend to compete in the Southwestern Oklahoma State Rodeo where the men turned in a fourth place finish, while the women finished fifth. The rodeo was the eighth of the season, and the team will be back on the road for one of its longest road trips when it travels to Hays, Kan., April 18-20 for the Fort Hays State Rodeo. Lacey Kessler turned in the best finish of the weekend, following up her third-place finish in the breakaway at the home rodeo by winning the event at SWOSU. Kessler clocked a 3.3 in the first round which was good enough to finish third in the round. She came back with a 3.6 in the short-go, but her 6.9 combined was good enough to win the breakaway championship out of more than 100 other riders. This past weekend, the men’s team got a boost in the tie down roping where Kolton Schmidt clocked a 9.3 in the first round, which was good enough to split second and third, while teammate Chisum Thurston was right behind with a time of 9.8 which set him splitting fifth and sixth. Unfortunately, both ropers missed their calves in the short-go which took them out of the average. SE also had a strong first-round showing in the team roping where Bryce Murry and his partner Shane Frey won the first round with a time of 6.9. Meanwhile Schmidt and Sawyer Burham turned in a 12.8 time to finish sixth. But the bad luck bit again in the short-go for both teams as they each received no times. Following the trip to FHSU, the team will have just one rodeo remaining April 24-26 with a trip to Goodwell for the Oklahoma Panhandle State Rodeo. The SE women’s team is currently ranked fourth in the Central Plains Region following the trip to Weatherford, while the men’s team is seventh. The team’s highest ranked woman in the region is Kessler who has climbed to third in the regional rankings in the breakaway roping after winning over the weekend, while Callie Hewett is in seventh in the event. Micaela Carlile and Ari-Anna Flynn are both in the top-15 in the barrel racing rankings, with Carlile ranked seventh and Flynn in ninth. The men’s team is led by Ethan Fox who is the No. 2-ranked header in the team roping in the Central Plains with his heeler Chase Boekhaus from Northwestern Oklahoma State. In the tie down roping, Dillon Holder is currently ranked seventh in the region.