Guthrie’s historic Lazy E Arena played host to one of the top rodeo events in the country last week with the 55th annual International Finals Rodeo.
The four-day rodeo (Jan. 16-19) featured competitions in eight different events as the top rodeo companies from the United States and Canada fought for the title of World Champion. Over $500,000 worth of prize money was dished out over the event’s four days of action.
Blayn Hughston from McBain, Michigan, took home the most earnings when all was said and done with $22,222.21, which he earned from winning the Bareback Riding contest with a total score of 333.75.
Matt Fisher won the Steer Wrestling competition with an aggregate score of 21.4. He hails from Edwards, Ontario, Canada, and is currently ranked No. 2 in the world for the event. The Team Roping championship went to Jake Wells out of Rainsville, Alabama, and Bryer Hamilton out of Cleveland, Tennessee. The duo won with a score of 1015.0, just five points better than the runner-up squad.
The Saddle Bronc Riding championship went to Oklahoma’s own Timothy Troyer out of Weatherford, who won $7,407.41. Andrew Burks from Athens, Alabama, took home the title for the Tie Down competition after totaling a 35.0 aggregate score. Kyla Matthews out of Athens, Tennessee, won the Breakaway Roping championship with her final score of 1007.8, and Bayleigh Choate from Cleveland, Tennessee, won the Barrel Racing after completing her run in just over 16 seconds.
Finally, the Bull Riding world championship went to Marlow, Oklahoma’s Deklan Garland, whose 250.0 score was good enough for the $7,407 first-place prize.