A 2024 Miss Teen Rodeo winner has died in a car crash in Kansas.
Colby Community College student Emma Brungardt, 19, was killed and four of her teammates injured in a car accident in Thomas County, at around 9:44 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 4, officials stated, per The Wichita Eagle and KSN News.
The single-vehicle collision occurred at a Y intersection and a private drive when an 18-year-old Colorado man driving Brungardt and her teammates in a 2007 Ford F-250 truck veered “between the Y striking a tree row.” This caused the vehicle to flip and land upright, according to a Kansas Highway Patrol trooper crash report obtained by the outlets.
The driver and Brungardt’s four teammates were transported to Citizens Medical Center for their injuries, while she died at the scene of the accident, reported The Wichita Eagle and KSN News.
The 2024 Miss Teen Rodeo Kansas was described in a Colby Community College Facebook post shared after the accident as “a sweet soul” who “always had a positive attitude.”
Emma Brungardt Facebook
“Last night [Brungardt] along with four other team members and our work-study were involved in a car accident,” the message read as photos of the late student horseback riding were shared alongside. “Unfortunately Emma did not walk away from this … We are praying for all families involved. Her light will live on in and around the rodeo arena,” the post concluded.
According to Colby Community College, Brungardt was set to major in equine management and production and competed in “goat tying, breakaway and team roping.”
The other team members involved in the crash were later all identified to be from Kansas and aged between 18 and 20-years-old, reported The Wichita Eagle.
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“The Miss Rodeo Kansas Pageant would like to express our deepest condolences to the family of Emma Brungardt, our beautiful Miss Teen Rodeo Kansas 2024,” the pageant wrote on Facebook.
“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.”
“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,” the post concluded.
PEOPLE has reached out to the Kansas Highway Patrol for further comment.
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