Murphy Sets CNFR Record with 91-Point Ride
June 19, 2006
CASPER, Wyo. – Southwestern Oklahoma State rodeo star Bandy Murphy showed why he is considered one of the top collegiate cowboys in the nation on the final night of competition at the College National Finals Rodeo in Casper, Wyo.
Murphy, a senior from Punta Gorda, Fla., set a CNFR arena record with a 91-point bull ride that delighted an enthusiastic crowd. The ride was enough to lift Murphy into second place in the final bull riding standings.
He collected a total of 250 points for SWOSU thanks in part to winning both the first round (84.5 points) and the final round in bull riding. Had it not been for a bull bouncing him off in the third round, he would have been the easy winner of the event. As it was, Jarrod Craig of Hill Community College was the winner by thanks to successfully riding each of the four times.
SWOSU ended up third in the overall team standings with 525 points. It was their best finish since 1999 when SWOSU won its sixth national title. West Texas A&M University finished first with 690 points followed by Wharton County Junior College in second with 530 points.
SWOSU also got strong performances by Tony Sauter in down-roping where he collecting a total of 135 team points. Sauter finished first in the opening round with a time of 8.1 seconds and was second in the second round with a time of 9.1 seconds. He did not score in the third round and therefore missed out on his opportunity to advance to the championship round.
Steven Smith did well early in the bareback riding with an 81.5 point ride in the opening round that won the team 80 points. He had a no score in the third round and was bounced out of the top 10 and out of the championship round.
Paul Gavin came back after being bucked off in his first two attempts in the bull riding competition a score 82.5 on his third ride. The effort was good enough for third place and put 55 points in the team total for SWOSU.
The last part of SWOSU’s 525-point team total came thanks to a five-point producing effort by Jesse Kulcyzcki in the team roping event. Kulczycki and his teammate from Bacone College had a time of 8.0 seconds to finish in a sixth-place tie in the event.