Dustin Elliott, who was the collegiate bullriding champion in 2001 while attending Chadron State College, is the 2004 Pro Rodeo Cowboys Association bullriding champion. After leading the PRCA standings the last half of the year, Elliott rode four bulls at the National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas this past week to finish the season with earnings of $193,779, about $6,478 more than runner-up Matt Austin of Wills Point, Tex., accumulated. This was Elliott's first full season on the pro rodeo circuit. Elliott placed third in the fourth go-round, won the fifth go-round, was third in the sixth go-round and placed second in the ninth go-round to earn just over $50,500 at the national finals. Elliott went to Las Vegas with earnings of $143,248.79, giving him a lead of about $22,500 over Austin. Cody Buller of Glendive, Mont., won the bullriding average at the national finals, earning $98,676. Buller finished third in the 2004 standings at $184, 026. Although a native of John Day, Ore., Elliott now lists his address as Tecumseh, Neb., his home because that's where his wife, the former Cynthia Stoetzel of Maxwell, is teaching high school business courses. The couple met at Chadron State. He came to Chadron State after being contacted by Darrell Marshall, then the CSC rodeo team coach, while Elliott was riding at the National High School Rodeo Finals in Gillette, Wyo., in 1999 shortly after he had graduated from Grant Union High School. Elliott is the first cowboy with a Nebraska address to win a PRCA championship since Troy Pruitt of Minatare was the calf roping winner in 1990. Before that, no one using a Nebraska address had been a PRCA winner since 1964 and '65, when Jim Houston of Omaha was the bareback champion. Elliott's winnings this year were considerably more than Houston's. The Omaha cowboy won $20,897 in 1964 and only $17,631 in 1965 while winning his world championships. Two cowboys who graduated from Nebraska high schools were among those placing at this year's national finals. Todd Suhn, who graduated from Ogallala High in 1992, finished fourth in the steer wrestling standings with earnings of $142,698 and Bryce Miller, who graduated from Nelson High in 1999, was 11th in the final saddle bronc standings with $94,034. Suhn now lists his address as Brighton, Colo., while Miller now calls Kaycee, Wyo., his home. While Suhn has never been the PRCA steer wrestling champion, he has been among the 15 national finals qualifiers each of the past nine years. His highest finish was in 1999, when he finished second. This was Miller's first trip to nationals. One of the most successful pro rodeo steer wrestlers in the past 20 years is Scott (Ote) Berry, a 1980 Gordon High graduate who was living at Checotah, Okla., when he was the PRCA champion in 1985, 1990, 1991 and 1995 and placed among the top 15 ten more times spanning from 1985 to 2000. Broken Bow native Paul Tierney was the PRCA calf roping champion in 1979 and the all-around cowboy in 1980. He was living near Rapid City, S.D., at the time. Another former Chadron State bullrider, Will Farrell of Thermopolis, Wyo., finished 15th in the PRCA bullriding standings last year. Farrell was doing well again this past year when he suffered a broken ankle when it was stepped on at the Laramie, Wyo., rodeo early in the summer. Farrell plans to "rodeo hard" in 2005 in hopes of qualifying for the national finals again. He was the collegiate bullriding champion in 1999 and 2003 while attending CSC. A third ex-CSC cowboy, Sam Perkins of Chadron, qualified for the national finals in bareback riding six times from 1976 through 1984. His best finish was in 1979, when he finished second in the world standings.