Emma Brungardt, a 19-year-old from Kansas, rodeoed for Colby Community College.
Officials said that a 19-year-old rodeo standout who was the 2024 Miss Teen Rodeo Kansas winner perished in a single-vehicle automobile accident on Friday night in rural Kansas, leaving four of her colleagues injured and one more person hurt.
According to a collision, report posted online by the Kansas Highway Patrol, Emma Brungardt of Blue Rapids was a passenger in a 2007 Ford F250 pickup truck that was heading south on County Road 21 in Thomas County when it “left the roadway” at the Y intersection and struck a row of trees.
Troopers stated Brungardt was wearing her seatbelt at the time of the incident. Four additional passengers and the driver survived the collision and reported potential injuries.
According to a Facebook post by the school’s rodeo team, four additional team members and a work-study student were among the people in the car.
The message on the team website said, “We are praying for all the families involved.” “Emma was a kind spirit who was usually upbeat and willing to help others. Her presence in the rodeo arena and beyond will never go away.”
The Highway Patrol’s collision report states that the pickup’s driver was an 18-year-old Colorado man. Among the other passengers were a 20-year-old lady from Larned, a 19-year-old woman from Newton, a 19-year-old woman from Galva, and an 18-year-old guy from Council Grove.
Brungardt concentrated on horse production and administration. She participated in team roping, breakaway, and goat-tying rodeos.
Brungardt won the title of Miss Teen Rodeo Kansas for 2024.
Brungardt was referred to on the event’s website as a “first-generation cowgirl” who “immersed herself in the western way of life.”
According to the website, she participated in high school in FFA. This charity provides agricultural education to children, and she became grand champion in the Kansas Wild Horse Youth Challenge in 2019 and 2021. She also spent two years competing in the Kansas High School Rodeo Association.
