BY BRETT NIERENGARTEN @PRORODEOBRETT
Ilyssa Riley won the final three rounds of barrel racing at the Texas Circuit Finals to run away with the event win and earn Female Athlete of the Week honors.
After placing second in Round 1 with a time of 15.92 seconds, Riley responded with runs of 15.58, 15.54 and 15.81. She was the only cowgirl to break the 16-second mark on all four of her runs and accounted for almost half of the sub-16 second runs at the rodeo (9). She won the rodeo by a whopping 1.3 seconds.
Overall, Riley brought in $11,467 and was the only athlete at the entire rodeo to secure five figures in prize money.
“I promise you, I’m the happiest person in this building,” she said following her win. “That horse has worked his butt off for me and I’m very thankful for him this week.”