Men Finish Fourth at OPSU Rodeo

April 2, 2006

Goodwell, OK - Southwestern Oklahoma State completed its final test before returning home to host its own annual rodeo with a fourth-place finish at the Oklahoma Panhandle State Rodeo.

The Bulldogs, winners of five of seven rodeos this year, still remain in first place in the Central Plains Regional standings with 3,507 points. OPSU is a distant second with 2,596 points. Only three rodeos remain, including SWOSU’s own which begins a three-day run Thursday, April 6 at Don Mitchell Arena in Weatherford.

Southeastern Oklahoma State won the OPSU rodeo with 620 points followed by OPSU in second with 500 points and Northwestern Oklahoma in third with 420 points. SWOSU was fourth with 300 points.

Bandy Murphy, SWOSU’s top rodeo performer this year, finished among the leaders at the OPSU rodeo in bull riding and bareback riding. Murphy had a 77-point bull ride to win the short round and ended up in second place in the average. He split fourth and fifth place in the short round in bareback and finished in a two-way tie for fifth in the average.

SWOSU also got points in the bareback riding from Dusty Gracia and Steven Smith. Gracia was fifth in the long round and sixth in the short round and finished fourth in the average. Smith won the long round with an 80-point ride.

The Bulldogs also picked up points in steer wrestling as Tony Sauter and Aaron Allen each scored. Sauter finished sixth in the long round and split fourth and fifth in the short round to earn sixth in the average. Allen won the long round with a time of 4.1 seconds.

Jesse Kulczycki also picked up points by finishing in a two-way tie for fifth in the team roping with his partner K.W. Laurer from Northwestern Oklahoma State.