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FALLON, Nev. (AP) -- Utah again dominated this year's Silver State International Rodeo, with Montana finishing second for its best showing in the history of the 21-year-old event.
Utah contestants rode and roped their way to their seventh consecutive championship in the week-long high school rodeo, which wrapped up on Saturday at the Churchill County Fairgrounds. Idaho, Nevada and California rounded out the top five teams.
Contestants who finished fifth through 10th in their respective state rodeos came to Fallon while the top four from each state qualified for the national rodeo at Springfield, Ill., later this month.
More than 500 contestants from the West, Texas, Pennsylvania and two Canadian provinces -- British Columbia and Alberta -- attended the international event.
Jacob Wright's third ride in the bulls gave Utah a surge midway through Saturday's night performance.
His bull charged out of the chute, and the southern Utah cowboy gyrated with the moves of his 1,800-pound beast and finished with 75 points.
"I knew my friend and mentor Roger Christensen was taking care of me. He said ride the bull or nothing. I love the pressure," Wright said.
The Utah cowboy accumulated the most points and was named all-around cowboy. He received an SSIR saddle and a $5,000 horse trailer donated by the city of Fallon.
Wright also scored 72 points in the final go for saddle bronc, and he finished second behind Odessa, Texas, cowboy Aaron Lide, the reserve all-around cowboy who was making his first trip to Nevada.
Courtney Madsen, a Utah cowgirl from Duchesne, won the all-round title which came with a saddle and horse trailer from the city of Fallon.
Fellow Utah cowgirl Lekelski Dansie won the girls cutting and garnered enough points for reserve all-around cowgirl.
Utah had at least one contestant who placed in the top four of every event during the Top 15 finals.
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.) APTV-07-10-06 1213MDT
