The 2024 Miss Teen Rodeo Kansas was killed and five of her college equestrian teammates were injured in a car crash in rural Kansas on Friday night, school officials said.
Emma Brungardt, 19, a sophomore at Colby Community College and an equine management and production major was declared dead at the scene of the accident, authorities said.
“Emma was a sweet soul who picked up other people and always had a positive attitude,” the CC College Rodeo Team wrote on Facebook.
“Her light will live on in and around the rodeo arena.”
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Brungardt and four equestrian teammates were inside a pickup truck driven by an unidentified 18-year-old.
The driver of the pickup truck had been headed south and cut “between the Y striking a tree row,” causing the vehicle to flip, a Kansas Highway Patrol trooper wrote in a crash report.
The driver and the four surviving passengers were taken to Citizens Medical Center in Colby, Kansas for minor injuries.
On social media, people flooded the comments of her memorial posts.
“The team, students and families involved are in my prayers. As an alumni I know that they are all a great community at CCC and will work through this tragedy together,” one user wrote in Facebook.
The Miss Rodeo Kansas Pageant praised Brungardt for her dedication to her craft and rare light.
“Emma was a true gem and horsewoman who embodied what it meant to be a rodeo queen, always going above and beyond what was expected of her,” Miss Rodeo Kansas Pageant said on Facebook.
“We will miss her contagious smile and one in a million personality.”
On social media, people flooded the comments of her memorial posts.
Brungardt was attending school on a scholarship. On her equestrian team, she competed in goat tying, breakaway, and team roping.
