Nunez, Murphy claim All-Around titles at LHSFR - American Press (2024)

Bell City High School’s Ava Nunez and John Murphy swept the All-Around titles on Saturday as the Louisiana High School Finals Rodeo wrapped up at Burton Coliseum.

Murphy arrived at the LHSFR in fifth place and trailed then-leader Jakob Simoneaux by 14 points. As the short-go round started on Saturday, he was four points behind Sulphur’s Zach Reeves. He ended up earning 37.6 points Saturday, including 24 points off the average titles in tiedown (31.42 seconds) and team roping (34.44 seconds), and he needed every bit of it as he edged Reeves by two points, 154.2-152.2.

In the short-go round, Murphy was second in team roping with Noah Weeks at 9.42 seconds, and placed third in tiedown roping (10.59), allowing him to surge past defending champ Cougar Racca to win the tiedown state championship, 101.4-83.4.

Nunez unseated two-time defending All-Around Cowgirl Rylee Jo Maryman, and it got close at the end. Nunez began with LHSFR with a comfortable 40-plus point lead and ended up winning by 9.9 points, 214.6-204.7.

Maryman successfully defended her barrel racing state title after erasing Nunez’s seven-point lead. Maryman won two of three rounds and the average title and slipped by Nunez 107.2-106.6 but it wasn’t enough to overtake Nunez to win her third consecutive All-Around title.

Nunez added a third-place finish in pole bending.

DEFENDING CHAMPS

Besides Maryman in barrel racing, three cowboys mounted successful state title defenes.

Bryer Prince repeated as bareback champion. He had one eight-second ride in the second go-round (61 points) and placed second in the average to finish with 102 points, while runner-up Simoneaux had 85 points.

Sulphur cowboy Ryden Martin won the final two rounds, including the only sub-five second time of the week (4.95) in the short go-round Saturday to win his second consecutive steer wrestling state championship, 89.3-85.2 over Kole Landry.

DeQuincy junior Wyatt LaVergne won his third consecutive saddle bronc state championship in dominating fashion with 155 points, beating the rest of the field by 69.2 points. He won all three rounds with scores of 73, 77 and 76 to win the average title as well. He has won eight consecutive rounds at the LHSFR dating back to the second go-round in 2022.

SURGE TO THE TOP

Westminster Christian’s Aubrey Habbit arrived at Burton Coliseum last week in sixth place in breakaway roping and trailed defending champion Grace Dubois by 28 points. But Habbit never placed worse than fifth in any round and won the average title with a total time of 7.82 seconds to take the state championship by .80 points from Dubois, 60.8-60.

FIRST TIME CHAMPS

Five first-time state champions were crowned Saturday, including two freshmen.

Barbe rookie cowgirl Ella Kay had a stellar finish at the LHSFR by winning the short go-round (6.89 seconds) and the average title Saturday to beat fellow freshman Allie Calcote (East Beauregard) 129.4-106.2 to win the goat-tying state championship.

In bull riding, Brennan Polito (Epic Charter) beat defending champion Trey Carroll and runner-up Zach Reeves (Sulphur) for his first high school state championship. He took third in the third go-round and won the short go with the highest-scoring ride of the week (83) to win the average (159 points on two rides). He finished with 90.4 points, while Reeves was the runner-up for the second consecutive year with 66.6 points.

After failing to score points in the second go-round Friday, Kodi Miller’s title hopes were in jeopardy, but she held on to beat Kenzie King by two-tenths of a point with 122.8. King was second in the short go (20.164 seconds) and won the average (61.637 / 3), but Miller’s (Simpson) fourth place finish in the average (65.897 / 3 and the 8.4 points that went with it was just enough to win the state title.

Over the course of three rounds, Grace Dubois (Devillier Institute) and Kayson Lasyone (Magnolia Bend) went from fourth place to state champions in team roping. They scored 150.4 points to beat runners-up Teddie Guynn and Wyatt Sonnier, who finished with 134 points.

Dubois and Lasyone won the second go-round Friday (7.13 seconds) and placed second in the average (34.82 seconds / 3).