Ceremonial crowns 3 all-around champ on Sunday afternoon

CHURCH ROCK, N.M.

After falling short last year, Coyote Canyon, New Mexico cowboy Hiyo Yazzie is back where he belongs.

Yazzie captured the men’s all-around crown on Sunday during the 103rd Annual Gallup Inter-Tribal Ceremonial Open Rodeo at Red Rock Park.

Yazzie earned his third Ceremonial all-around title by racking up a whopping 58 points with most of that tally coming in the Old School Rodeo events. Previously, he won the men’s all-around title in back-to-back years starting in 2022 during the rodeo’s 100th anniversary.

“This is pretty cool,” said Yazzie, who was awarded a saddle and buckle. “This is a good rodeo; a lot of cowboys come here, so to win again is pretty special.”

Meanwhile, the Ceremonial women’s all-around title was shared by Navajo, New Mexico cowgirl Jodelle Bitloy and Crownpoint’s Latasha Murphy. The two cowgirls tallied 21 points apiece.

“I actually wasn’t expecting this,” Murphy said. “I thought that I would get beat by some of the younger ones. At the end of the rodeo, I was like ‘holy cow.’ It was a good win and it’s one of the rodeos that I always wanted to win.”

During Sunday’s presentation, Murphy took home the saddle while Bitloy took the buckle. The Ceremonial, however, will award Bitloy a saddle and Murphy a buckle later this year.

Murphy placed sixth in the average race in the breakaway with a 9.91 aggregate, which included a sixth-place finish in long go round with a 3.38 effort. She also entered in the barrels and missed the cut for Sunday’s short round.

“This means a lot,” Murphy said of winning the all-around. “I’m just thankful for having a mount. April Willie lent me her horse, and, man, that horse gave me a shot every time. He did his job, and I did mine.”

For her Old School event, Murphy competed in the women’s frybread pan throw as she tossed the dish 48-feet.

“I finished ahead of Jodelle and that gave me enough (points) to tie her,” Murphy said. “She was really strong in the barrels.”

In the barrels, Bitloy earned a second-place finish in the long go with an 18.554 effort. In the short round, however, she dropped the third barrel, which put her out of contention for the average title that was won by Faith Jesus.

In the men’s all-around race, Yazzie captured three individual titles, winning the bull dogging, ranch bronc and wild cow milking.

Yazzie finished with a top score of 79 points in the ranch bronc. Nathan Yazzie trailed seven points back as he was given a 72-point score, which placed him second.

“I used to ride broncs back in the day,” Yazzie said. “It’s pretty fun, and it’s always fun to ride a bronc.”

In the wild cow milking, Yazzie teamed up with his brother Rooster Yazzie and Bloomfield, New Mexico cowboy Malachi Pablo.

“I had a pretty good team, and we had a lot of fun,” Yazzie said. “I’m just thankful for having those guys on my team.”

In the bull dogging, Yazzie won the average with a 11.25 aggregate. He placed second in both the long and short go rounds with runs of 5.77 and 5.48, respectively.

“I had a pretty good steer,” Yazzie said. “He was pretty honest, and I just had to cowboy up.”

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