There Was Some Historic Mutton Busting at The Rodeo in Lufkin, TX

The mutton busting competition on Thursday and Friday nights at the Angelina Benefit Rodeo showcased some of the best rides in the history of the event. That's a pretty bold statement because there have been a number of great rides through the past couple of decades, but there were a total of three 90+ rides on Thursday, and then on Friday, we followed that up with four 90+ rides.

On any given night of mutton busting at the rodeo in Lufkin, one or two riders will stay on the back of the sheep until they get halfway down the arena floor. Thursday and Friday, that wasn't nearly good enough to take home the nightly championship trophy.

On Thursday, the final rider of the night, 6-year-old Ashtyn Whitaker of Nacogdoches claimed the top spot with a ride of 92 points. Roper Munsinger of Crockett scored a 91, Emory Rains of Huntington had a 90, and a pair of 89s were registered by Paizlee Spiller and Bristol Lowery.

On Friday, these cowboys and cowgirls came ready to give it their best. Every ride scored higher than 82 points. In the end, 9-year-old Blakeley Wheeler of Lufkin rode her sheep from one end of the arena to the other and then stayed on as the sheep doubled back towards the chute gate. That was worth 95 points.

Other great rides were turned in by Coy Redd of Huntington (93), Cody Crawley of Stephenville (92), Navaeh Pillows of Lufkin (92), Sloan Sullivan of Lufkin (89), and Haegan Belschner of Hudson (88).

Here are the riders from both nights.