On a wet Saturday in Jerome, Fifth District high school cowgirls Kortnee Hurless of Fairfield and Amanda Hill of Carey carried their season-long battle for all-around supremacy down to the wire.
It was as close as it could be. Hurless entered the final spring rodeo with a 15-point lead. But early-season leader Hill sliced into the lead and cut it down to just four points when all was said and done.
Camas County senior Hurless won the buckle for the girls' all-around championship with 288 points and Carey senior Hill settled for the reserve honor with 284 points after five southern Idaho rodeos.
Hill won both barrel racing performances at Jerome and Hurless left her Carey rival an opening with a couple of no-times in breakaway roping. But Hurless won both goat tying go-rounds to nail down the title.
In the individual events, Hurless won season championships in pole bending and goat tying, and was third in breakaway. Hill's best efforts were second places in pole bending, goat tying and barrel racing for the entire season.
Besides Hurless (poles, breakaway and goats) and Hill (poles, breakaway, goats and barrels), a number of local cowboys and cowgirls qualified for the State High School Rodeo finals June 20-24 at Pocatello.
Carey senior Bryan Hill won the steer wrestling season championship and just missed state in calf and team roping.
Bryan Hill won a calf roping go-round at Jerome and picked up 15 points in that event to leapfrog into fourth place in the all-around season standings—just 12 points behind champion Cy Eames of Gooding.
Wood River's Kade Smith captured the boys' cow cutting season title ahead of teammate Austin Keys. Both will go to state, along with Taylor Stoecklein of Wood River.
Carey's Brittany Hennefer is headed to state in girls' cutting.
Top Jerome rodeo results and local placers follow including season all-around totals after the five circuit stops at Glenns Ferry, Gooding, Shoshone, Carey and Jerome:
Final all-around girls, season: 1—Kortnee Hurless (Fairfield) 288 points. 2—Amanda Hill (Carey) 284. 12—Brittany Hennefer (Carey) 62.5. 23—Kathryn Smith (WR) 10.
Final all-around boys, season: 1—Cy Eames (Gooding) 141. 2—Jack Stevens (Gooding) 137. 3—Rob Webb (Wendell) 130. 4—Bryan Hill (Carey) 129. 16—Kade Smith (WR) 37.5.
Boys' cutting: 1—Kade Smith (WR) 71 points and Austin Keys (WR) 71. 2—Taylor Stoecklein (WR) 69. Season leaders (all to state): 1—Kade Smith 90 points. 2—Austin Keys 86.5. 3—Tyler Wines 80.5. 4—Taylor Stoecklein 66. 5—Matt Ervin (Gooding) 59.
Girls' cutting: 1—Cheyanna Robinson (Gooding) 71 points and Kaycie Smith (Jerome) 71. 7—Brittany Hennefer 63. Season leaders (all to state): 1—Danielle Shubert (Gooding) 81. 2—Hailey Turner (Gooding) 80.5. 3—Cheyanna Robinson 72.5. 4—Kaycie Smith 60.5. 5—Jamie Lancaster 53.5. 6—Brittany Hennefer 48.5.
Pole bending: 1—Amanda Hill 21.242 and 22.328 seconds. 3—Kortnee Hurless 22.431 and 22.854. 5—Brittany Hennefer 23.446. 17—Kathryn Smith 26.803. 27—Katrina Molyneux 34.495. Season leaders (top 6 to state): 1—Kortnee Hurless 90 points. 2—Amanda Hill 77. 3—Saige Hoskovec (Jerome) 45. 4—Kallie Axelson (Shoshone) 42. 5—Cheyanna Robinson 41. 6—Jill Georgio (Jerome) 40. 12—Brittany Hennefer 15. 21—Kathryn Smith 2.
Breakaway roping: 1—Katie Hall (Valley) 4.29 seconds and Kassandra Hall (Valley) 4.90. 4—Amanda Hill 5.30. 6—Brittany Hennefer 6.45. Season leaders (top 6 to state): 1—Hailey Harris (Shoshone) 56. 2—Hailey Turner (Gooding) 55. 3—Kortnee Hurless 45. 4—Amanda Hill 40. 5—Jori Fleming (Jerome) 38. 6—Kassandra Hall 36. 15—Brittany Hennefer 5.
Goat tying: 1—Kortnee Hurless 8.52 and 9.67 seconds. 2—Amanda Hill 9.54. 4—Brittany Hennefer 10.47. 11—Katrina Molyneux 16.84. Season leaders (top 6 to state): 1—Kortnee Hurless 96 points. 2—Amanda Hill 71. 3—Kallie Axelson 67. 4—Jori Fleming 60. 5—Cheyanna Robinson 46. 6—Kay Christopherson (Wendell) 45. 9—Brittany Hennefer 27.
Barrel racing: 1—Amanda Hill 17.581 and 18.679 seconds. 3—Kortnee Hurless 18.217. 9—Kathryn Smith 20.015 and Brittany Hennefer 19.155. 14—Cassi Ann Rushton 19.894. 18—Katrina Molyneux 21.308. 25—Kathryn Smith 22.005. Season leaders (top 6 to state): 1—Cheyanna Robinson 81 points. 2—Amanda Hill 71. 3—Kallie Axelson 68. 4—Hailey Turner 42. 5—Jill Georgio 40. 6—Kyra Smith (Jerome) 38. 7—Kortnee Hurless 37. 12—Brittany Hennefer 15.5. 16—Kathryn Smith 8. 17—Cassi Ann Rushton 7.
Bareback riding: 1—Carry Livingston (Jerome) 46 points and Cody Luper (Jerome) 49. Season leaders (both to state): 1—Cody Luper 79 points. 2—Carry Livingston 20.
Steer wrestling: 1—Dusty Vader (Hagerman) 7.14 seconds and Ty Webb (Wendell) 10.99. 3—Bryan Hill 17.92. Season leaders (all to state): 1—Bryan Hill 74 points. 2—Dusty Vader 64. 3—Jack Stevens 36. 4—Ty Webb 35. 5—Rusty Gill (Gooding) 32. 6—Tyler Wines (Gooding) 21.
Calf roping: 1—Cy Eames 11.95 seconds and Bryan Hill 12.20. 4—Andy Olson (Hill City) 17.15. 5—Kade Smith 17.53. Season leaders (top 6 to state): 1—Rob Webb 67 points. 2—Tyler Wines 56. 3—Cy Eames 52. 4—Jack Stevens 50. 5—Matt Ervin (Gooding) 46. 6—Jake Ruby (Jerome) 39. 7—Bryan Hill 33. 11—Andy Olson 22. 14—Kade Smith 15.5.
Saddle bronc: No qualifying rides. Season leaders (to state): 1—Tyler Gebauer 20 points.
Bullriding: 1—Montana Barlow (Valley) 68 points; Casey Bruderer (Valley) and Kennith Fetterly (Valley) 64 points each. Season leaders (all to state): 1—Montana Barlow 30 points. 2—CJ Santana (Richfield) 29. 3—Brian Arterburn (Hagerman) and Michael Vanzante (Valley) 26 apiece. 5—Casey Bruderer (Valley) 18.5. 6—Cy Eames 18.
Team roping: 1—Rob Webb and Jake Ruby 13.34 seconds, Hailey Harris and Justin Hickman (Jerome) 19.97. 5—Bryan Hill and Kade Smith 24.77. Season leaders (top 6 teams to state): 1—Jake Ruby and Rob Webb 63 points. 2—Matt Ervin and Rusty Gill 56. 3—Cy Eames and Justin Parke (Gooding) 55. 4—Jack Stevens and Tyler Wines 51. 5—Hailey Harris and Justin Hickman (Jerome) 42.5. 6—Tyler Gebauer and Cooper Nuffer (Valley) 28. 7—Amanda Hill and Gary Kuhn (Jerome) 25. 8—Bryan Hill and Kade Smith 22. 9—Connor McNamara and Kortnee Hurless 20. 11—Zachary Peterson and Taylor Stoecklein 13.
