Thrills, Spills At Gateway to Sandhills Bullride

A large holiday crowd gathered at the Boone County Fairgrounds Saturday, July 2, to enjoy the wild excitement of the 17th Annual Gateway to the Sandhills Bullride Classic, presented by the Albion FFA Alumni and Rodeo Rose Productions.
When the final whistle had sounded, Zeke Mora of Brush, CO topped the 40 competing cowboys and added his name to the list of 16 previous event champions.
Mora was among a dozen riders from other states competing for the 2011 champion’s buckle, sponsored by Albion’s Jim and Dolores McMillan. Others taking on a tough array of bulls Saturday were former Nebraska high school bullriding champ Trey Kerner of Sutherland and a number of Albion area riders, including Chad Storm (Albion); Corey Prorok (St. Edward); Jason Sheldon (Spalding); and Sam Felber, Seth Felber, Austin Humphrey (Newman Grove).
The Rodeo Rose stock proved hard to handle, as only four riders lasted eight seconds in the main round and advanced to the short round finals. Mora finished atop that quartet, with John Young of Oreint, IA second, Elijah Mora of Brush, CO third and Kerner fourth.
Judging the competition were Jim and Terry McMillan of Albion. Delores McMillan of Albion was timer. Bullfighters helping keep riders safe after being thrown were Ryan Davis and Bruce Hamlin of Hoyt, KS. Broken Bow’s Terry Connelly provided comedy through the evening, which also included a junior bullride.