A teenage girl who will be crowned in 2024 Five of Miss Teen Rodeo Kansas’s teammates were hurt in the car crash that claimed her life, according to the authorities.
Emma Catherine Brungardt, 19, of Blue Rapids, her away on Friday night when the vehicle she was riding in collided with trees at a Y intersection in a rural Kansas town close to Garden City, according to confirmation from the Kansas Highway Patrol.
The group of teenagers were being driven by Brungardt’s colleague Kade Homm, 18, when the Ford Pickup truck slammed into a line of trees and overturned, according to a collision report.
At the scene, Brungardt was pronounced deceased.
Homm was transported to Citizens Medical Center in Colby along with the other four passengers, who were teammates Lakeddah J. Downes, 18, Alaura Crockett-Armijo, 20, Kerstin S. Tommer, 19, and Emma G. Krase, 19, for minor injury treatment.
Brungardt was crowned Miss Teen Rodeo Kansas earlier this year. She is a student at Colby Community College specializing in horse management and production.
Brungardt posted numerous horse-related pictures to her Facebook page. Days prior to the incident, she had mentioned selling one of them in her most recent post.
On social media, Miss Rodeo Kansas Pageant paid a moving homage to Emma Brungardt, our lovely Miss Teen Rodeo Kansas 2024. The pageant expressed their sincere sympathies to her family.
Emma was a genuine jewel of a horsewoman who went above and beyond the call of duty to embody the ideals of a rodeo queen.
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“We will miss her contagious smile and one-in-a-million personality. Please keep her family and friends in your prayers as they navigate through this unimaginable loss.”
Recalling the adolescent as “a sweet soul,” Colby Community College saw her compete in team roping, breakaway, and goat tying.
“We are praying for all families involved. Emma was a sweet soul who picked up other people and always had a positive attitude. Her light will live on in and around the rodeo arena,” according to the statement.
