Elk City, OK – A Nebraska man, via Wisconsin, came to Oklahoma to win the saddle bronc riding at the Elk City Rodeo of Champions.
Lavern Borntrager, Elsmere, Nebraska, scored 86 points on the Beutler and Son Rodeo Company horse Green Bay to win the title and a check for $3,750.
The 27-year-old was excited to have drawn the Beutler horse, a gelding that was selected to buck at the 2025 Wrangler National Finals Rodeo.
“That horse bucked really hard,” he said. “He bucks a lot of guys off. I knew if I stayed back, lifted (on the reins), went at him, and didn’t hesitate, I thought it would work out, and it did.”
Borntrager grew up in Wisconsin and moved to Nebraska as a young man to work on a ranch. He had never been to a rodeo before and was introduced to the sport by Cort Scheer, a relative of the family for whom he worked. Scheer, who grew up in Elsmere, Nebraska, is a saddle bronc rider who has made multiple trips to the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo.
Scheer mentored Borntrager in the saddle bronc riding.
“There’s nobody that has been a bigger influence on my career than him,” he said. “I have the utmost respect for that guy.”
Borntrager is on the bubble of qualifying for his first Prairie Circuit Finals Rodeo. He was ranked fourteenth in the Prairie Circuit standings, two spots out of making it to the Prairie Circuit Finals Rodeo, held in November in Mulvane, Kansas.
His Elk City win will put him in the top dozen of saddle bronc riders in the circuit.
It was his first time to compete in Elk City. “It’s a great rodeo,” he said. “I’ve had a good time. They do an awesome job of putting it on.”
An Oregon man won the bull riding in Elk City.
Shane Scott, Molalla, Oregon, scored 89 points on the Beutler and Son Rodeo bull Shake N Bake to win nearly $3,807 and win the title.
The 20-year-old, a student at Weatherford (Texas) College, is majoring in equine management and will graduate in May 2027. He competes in collegiate rodeo as well as the PRCA and qualified for the College National Finals Rodeo once.
Bull riding is Scott’s first love, but he also competed in saddle bronc riding in high school and won two saddle bronc titles at the National High School Finals Rodeo.
Right now, he’s only riding bulls, but would like to add saddle bronc riding to his repertoire.
And right now, bull riding is his strength.
“It’s been my love since I was a little kid,” he said. “That’s all I ever dreamed about, being a world champion bull rider.”
Other champions at the Rodeo of Champions include bareback rider Connor Griffith, Skullbones, Tennessee (87 points); steer wrestler Emmett Edler, State Center, Iowa (4.3 seconds); team ropers Paul David Tierney, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma and Casey McCleskey, Hedley, Texas (4.7 seconds); tie-down roper Austin Lawrence, Sperry, Oklahoma (9.3 seconds); and barrel racer Kristi Cole, Magnolia, Texas.
The all-around champion is Paul David Tierney. Tierney competed in two events: tie-down roping and team roping.
Next year’s rodeo will be September 3-5, 2027.
More information can be found at www.elkcityrodeo.com.
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