Wickett “3-Peats” At Bull-A-Rama

“I think Elgin’s my place to actually get bulls rode,”
Claiming he was in a slump, Norfolk bull rider Garrett Wickett won his third consecutive EKG Bull-A-Rama Saturday night.
Wickett, a second generation bull rider coached by Dustin Elliott out of North Platte, put together two great rides to claim the championship.
In the first go round, he posted a 76. Then, starting the second go-round, he posted a 79 for a combined score of 155.
Taking second was Cody Bohnenkamp of Broken Bow. He had a 65 in the first go-round then came back with a 77 in the second go-round.
The best ride of the night was turned in by Rick Clouse of Emmett who posted an 80 in the first go-round and ended up finishing third.
The bleachers were nearly full to capacity when the competition began
“He jumped out and made a couple of rounds to the right then jumped out of it,” Wickett said about his ride in the first go-round. “He was a tough bull to ride, I had to really work and claw my way to stay caught up to him.”
It didn’t get any easier in the second go-round.
“I knew going in I was sitting in second place,” he said about the start of the second go-round. Wickett said when the bull came out of the chute, it went to his left away from his hand. “I really had to keep clawing,” he said. “I wasn’t really spurring, I was just trying to stay caught up to him.”
“For me, it’s just a natural reaction,” Wickett said describing what it’s like to ride a bull. “It’s a split-second sport. You can’t think, when you think you get hurt,” he said. “I really don’t see anything. My vision gets very blurry … I know where the position is. If I do get in a bad spot, that’s where I snap out of it. It’s almost like a dream.”
He went on to say that the times when he “snaps out of the dream” is when he has gotten hurt riding bulls.
Riding is all second nature. It’s all consecutive motions. If you imagine it day out, eat and sleep bull riding, that’s when you become good,” he said.