Peggy Gander, Cowboy Images Lisa Lockhart with her young mare Rosa win the 2018 Badlands Circuit barrel racing year-end and average championships.

It came down to the wire for cowboys and cowgirls in Minot at this weekend’s RAM Badlands Circuit Finals Rodeo.

After four performances of the Minot Y’s Men’s Rodeo, which hosts the circuit finals, year end (based on the amount of money won throughout the season) and average (based on combined points or times at the circuit finals rodeo) champions were determined in each of seven events.

Those two champions per event will go on to qualify for the RAM National Circuit Finals Rodeo (RNCFR) in Kissimmee, Florida, in March of next year, where $1 million is up for grabs.

Money won at this year’s circuit finals and the RNCFR counts towards the world standings, for those contestants who choose to rodeo full time and try to qualify for the world championships, determined at the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo (WNFR).

The only race that was determined before the circuit finals started was in the bareback riding.

Ty Breuer, from Mandan, had the year-end title sewn up before he got to town, because of his large lead.

And when the four performances were over, he also had won the average title, the most points on four rides (321). He won first place in two rounds and second and fourth place in the other two rounds.

“I was lucky to place in every round and get on good horses,” he said. “It was fun.” Breuer is ranked the number twelve bareback rider in the world standings and will compete at his fourth WNFR in December.

It came down to the last run in the steer wrestling.

Cameron Morman, from Glen Ullin, held off the other eleven steer wrestlers to finish as the 2018 Badlands year end and average champion.

He won money in three of the four rounds to have a total of 17.2 seconds on four head. In his final run on Sunday, he had the best steer in the herd.

“I missed the barrier a little bit, and Billy (Boldon, the hazer) did a good job of putting him in my office. I almost screwed up (the run) but it worked out and it was fast enough to stay in the average.”

The circuit finals might be over, but Morman, a 2016 Dickinson State University graduate, isn’t slowing down.

“I have to keep it rolling going into 2019,” he said. “Tomorrow we leave for the All-American Finals (Rodeo) in Waco, Texas, and we’ll stay pretty busy from here on out.”

In the world standings, he finished 2018 in eighteenth place. Morman won the average title last year and the year-end title in 2015.

In the last dozen years, no one has won more Badlands Circuit saddle bronc riding titles than J.J. Elshere.

Elshere, of Hereford, South Dakota, kept the streak going by winning the year-end title again this year.

He chased a WNFR qualification nation-wide this year and came into the circuit finals in second place behind Ty Manke. He won the first, second and fourth rounds but got bucked off in the third round, allowing Jade Blackwell to win the average with 302.5 points on four head.

The 39-year-old cowboy is one of the veterans in the circuit and thought the judges might have known that as well.

“A couple of those rides, it felt like they gave me some old-man-points, maybe. ‘Thanks for coming, here’s a couple extra (points),'” he said. This year’s year-end title was his fifth. He’s won the average three times.

“I’m pretty fortunate just to get to come here and get on good horses,” Blackwell said. “I’m actually pretty blessed.”

Blackwell’s circuit finals didn’t start as well as he’d have liked. For the first two rounds, he made qualified rides but they weren’t good enough to earn him checks. In the third round on Saturday night, when Blackwell won second place, eight of the twelve cowboys did not make qualified rides. Blackwell, along with Dickinson’s Dusty Hausauer, were the only two cowboys who made qualified rides on all four horses. Hausauer finished with 298 points on four head.

There was a new face in the barrel racing, and it wasn’t a human. For the first time in a dozen years, Lisa Lockhart was aboard a different horse at the Badlands Circuit Finals. The Oelrichs, South Dakota, cowgirl won both the year-end and average titles aboard her eight-year-old mare, Rosa.

Lockhart has ridden her buckskin Louie for years, and fans are familiar with the gelding. But, Louie stayed home this weekend and Rosa made the trip to Minot.

“I hadn’t run her a whole lot inside, and I’d not run her in multiple runs,” Lockhart said. “It was all to gain, nothing to lose by bringing her here. Sometimes you have to do those things to adapt.”

Lockhart won first place in the first and third rounds and second place in the second and fourth rounds to finish with a time of 55.09 seconds on four runs.

“We just climbed Mt. Everest, as far as I’m concerned,” Lockhart said, regarding her wins with Rosa. “I really thought about bringing Louie, but it’s always the bigger picture. I need to advance Rosa.”

Lockhart is ranked fourth in the world standings and will compete at her twelfth WNFR this December. In the last dozen years, she has won the Badlands Circuit year-end or average title ten times.

Tie-down roper Clint Kindred is headed back for his second RNCFR. The Oral, South Dakota, cowboy won both the year-end and average titles in Minot.

He came into the circuit finals in third place, behind Dane Kissack and Joe Schmidt, and won money in every round but the fourth one, finishing with an average time of 38.6 seconds on four runs.

“I got off to a good start and drew good calves,” he said. “It all fell together for me, really.”

His fourth round run nearly ended in catastrophe. He stumbled after dismounting from his horse, but was able to make a 9.9 second run. It didn’t earn him money, but was fast enough to win the average.

It was adrenaline that got him through the stumble.

“After I fell down, it was straight panic mode,” he said.

Kindred won the 2016 RNCFR and plans on rodeoing full time next year.

The team roping year end winners were Tyrell Moody (header) and Levi Lord (heeler) from South Dakota. Average winners were Turner Harris (header), from Killdeer, and Ross Carson (heeler), from Grassy Butte.

For the second consecutive year, both bull riding titles went to Jeff Bertus, from Avon, South Dakota.

The Rookie of the Year was awarded to Chance Rosencrans, from Jamestown, and the all-around went to Riley Wakefield, from O’Neill, Nebraska.

Yankee Rose of the Sutton Rodeo Co. won Bareback Horse of the Year, South Point of Suttons won the Saddle Bronc of the Year and the bull Cougar, owned by Bailey Pro Rodeos, won Bull of the Year.

For the finals awards, the Bareback Horse of the Badlands Circuit Finals went to Onion Ring, Korkow Rodeos. The Saddle Bronc Horse of the Finals was won by Bad Onion, Korkow Rodeos, and the Bull of the Circuit Finals went to Ace High, Bailey Pro Rodeo.

During the Sunday rodeo, the 2019 Miss Rodeo North Dakota was crowned, and Kara Berntson, from Kulm, won the title. She is a recent graduate of North Dakota State University where she earned a bachelor degree in animal science with a minor in equine science. She served as the 2017 Miss North Dakota Winter Show Rodeo Queen.