South Dakotans Fair Well at NHSFR

ROCK SPRINGS, Wyo. – Elk Point High School Cowgirl Riley Donnelly has been putting up impressive numbers virtually every time she enters the Sweetwater Events Center in Rock Springs, Wyoming, the site of the 2018 National High School Finals Rodeo. The Elk Point sophomore posted the second quickest times in pole bending (20.549) in Sunday’s opening performance, and then followed up with a quick 2.46 second breakaway roping run to place second in Monday night’s fourth performance. In Tuesday morning’s fifth performance, Rapid City Central bull rider David Hartshorn opened the day on a positive note for Team South Dakota turning in a solid 72-point effort aboard a Newcastle, Wyoming, Circle Nine Cattle Company bull. Hartshorn’s 72-point ride placed him sixth in the performance and currently 15th in the first go round. Alex Bergeson of Mitchell tracked and tipped his steer in a 6.5 second bulldogging run to finish sixth in the round and 18th in the first go round. Kadoka cowboy Jackson Grimes tallied 142 points in his boys’ cutting run, a point total identical to his three Team South Dakota teammates, Blasius Steffen of Gregory, Bodie Mattson of Sturgis and Cooper Crago of Belle Fourche. The foursome currently sit in 20th place in the go round. Kaitlyn Groves of Faith placed eighth in the girls cutting performance and currently shares 23rd place in the first go round with Wall’s Emily Pauley. Sawyer Gilbert of Harding County turned in a 9.81 goat tying run, a 7th place effort in the morning performance and 30th in the first round standings. On the girls’ side, Natalie Leisinger, a 3rd place finisher in the reined cow horse in 2017 turned in top ten effort in her first performance on Tuesday night, and Emily Pauley has a better than average 7.7 second run in goat tying. Heading into the evening performance the South Dakota girls were 12th in teams standings, Utah leads the pack, and the South Dakota boys were 13th behind Texas. The National High School Finals Rodeo wraps up on Saturday.