Six SW La. champs heading to Nationals
Published 1:31 pm Monday, June 5, 2017
The final night of the Louisiana High School Finals Rodeo saw six cowboys and cowgirls from Southwest Louisiana crowned champions. One of them finished as possibly the most dominate ever in his event.
Iota senior Judd Hebert won his sixth bull riding state championship in seven seasons and third straight at the high school level. But the final one meant a little more for Hebert who will get a chance to defend his national championship at the National High School Finals Rodeo in July.
“It feels pretty great,” Hebert said. “I will probably cherish this one more because this is my last year. I am glad that I did it again.”
Hebert had the championship wrapped up before the finals even began but wasn’t satisfied after falling off before the eight-second buzzer in first round. He went on to make the only two complete rides of the rodeo with an 84-point ride in the second round and 81 in the short go on Saturday.
“I made a simple little mistake on the first one and I made sure to fix that,” Hebert said.
Iowa junior Kaylee Cormier successfully defended her state title in goat tying. She won the second go round with a time of 6.48 seconds and won the average title with an aggregate time of 21.85 to win the championship by 15.5 points over Live Oak’s Kamryn Duncan.
“I came in with a better mind-set,” Cormier said. “Last year, I came in behind and had to fight for it.
“This year my mind-set was more to make my runs and let everything work for itself.”
With the help of his cousin and 2016 champ Ryan Gotreaux as his hazer, Welsh’s Cameron Gotreaux won both the steer wrestling state championship and average championship with rides of 4.45, 5.42 and 5.13 seconds.
“It was a big confidence builder knowing he (Ryan) is on the other side. I know he ain’t going to miss many.
“You can’t think about it. If you start thinking about it you start messing up. You just go back to basics, muscle memory.”
Sulphur sophomore Gabby Gunter’s quest for her first state championship was nearly derailed in the second go when she knocked a pole. But she won the short go round (19.824 seconds) and placed just high enough in the average standings (4th) to beat Academy of Sacred Heart’s Chloe Frey by just a point and a half, 139.5-138.
“It feels amazing,” Gunter said. “I was so nervous because everything was so close in the average.
“I felt a big relief (after the final round), but everything was still close. I didn’t know if I had won yet.”
Cousins Cyle Denison of Iowa and Britt Buller from Kinder battled from an 18-point deficit to win the team roping state title with 226 points. They were tied heading into the final round with Northwest’s Noah Briley and Old Bethel Christian’s Seth Smith but finish second in the short go (6.53 seconds) and won the average title as well (24.15 seconds on three head).
For Denison, it was his second title and first since his freshman year.
“It just feels good to get it and be back on top,” Denison said. “I should have been there (last year) but I didn’t deserve it, but this year I feel like we deserved it.”
Buller broke his leg last year and finished as the runner up with then partner Zeb Corkern before joining up with Denison this season.
“I have a really great partner and have all the confidence in the world,” Buller said. “We put a lot of work into it.”
Britt Buller, home school, competes in team roping during the Championship Round of the 2017 Louisiana High School Finals on Saturday night at Burton Coliseum.
Judd Hebert, Iota High School, competes in bull riding during the Championship Round of the 2017 Louisiana High School Finals on Saturday night at Burton Coliseum.
