Yost, Crick find winning more satisfying than record breaking at Hermiston (Ore.)
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Team roping header Justin Yost wasn’t bummed that he lost his arena record – twice – at the Farm-City Pro Rodeo in Hermiston, Ore., over the Aug. 11-14 weekend. He was much too happy with what he won.
Yost and partner Kyle Crick came up with the best possible response to transitory disappointment by winning the two-head average at the Wrangler Million Dollar Tour Silver rodeo, presented by Justin Boots, and $4,303 apiece.
“It’s the first Tour rodeo I’ve ever won,” said Yost, 22. “I’ve wanted to win a buckle since I started in the PRCA (in 2007). They give away jackets to the champions at Hermiston, but, hey, I’m not complaining. This was just a great experience.”
Yost and Crick had a 4.4-second run in the first round, which was one-tenth of a second off the arena record Yost set with Jory Levy in 2008, but that was lost in the excitement when Trevor Brazile and Patrick Smith set a record of 3.9 and then JoJo LeMond and Cory Petska lowered it again to 3.7.
A 5.3-second run in post-rodeo slack Aug. 13 put Yost and Crick in first place in the average by one-tenth over Chad Masters and Jade Corkill, but when the young pair (Crick is 26) headed off to the Omak (Wash.) Stampede, LeMond and Petska had yet to make their second run.
“We didn’t know we’d held on to win until Hilary Tryan (Travis’ wife) texted my wife (Nicole) in Omak,” Yost said. “Team roping gets faster all the time. With guys like JoJo, Derrick (Begay), Travis and Trevor, you can never count on a time holding up. It’s hard to win out here with all this talent. Nobody backs off, nobody hesitates.”
A fourth-place finish at the Missoula (Mont.) Stampede brought total weekend earnings for Yost and Crick to $6,230. Yost stayed 21st among PRCA headers but cut the margin between him and the 15th spot to about $6,000 while also moving from 27th in the Tour standings to 17th. Crick jumped from 22nd to 17th in the world and from 26th to 16th in the Tour standings.
“We were about $9,000 out of the 15th spot (in the world standings) going into last week, and I kind of figure that if we average about $3,500 a week for the rest of the season, we have a chance to make it to the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo.
“I want to become the first cowboy from Pennsylvania (he lives in Mount Morris) ever to qualify for the NFR. If I make it, I’ll carry that Pennsylvania flag with great pride in the grand entry.”
Team roping was not the only event to see a new entry in the record book. Bradley Harter won the saddle bronc riding with an 88-point effort on Kesler Rodeo’s Star Burst, which tied the arena record set by Dan Mortensen in 2005 and extended his lead in the Wrangler Million Dollar Tour standings.
“Everything is feeling great,” Harter told the Tacoma (Wash.) News-Tribune. “I’ve ridden through injuries, and typically I haven’t had a lot of luck here in Hermiston. But thank God I stayed on top (this time).”
The other winners at the Farm-City Arena were bareback rider Joe Gunderson (85 points), steer wrestler Trevor Knowles (7.5 seconds on two head), tie-down roper Shank Edwards (18.1 seconds on two head), barrel racer Brenda Mays (34.69 seconds on two runs) and bull rider Kanin Asay (88 points). Edwards also won the all-around title with earnings of $5,723.
Whitfield ties down Sikeston (Mo.) title, takes aim at eighth gold buckle
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – For Fred Whitfield, it isn’t any longer about whether he’s going to make it back to the Wrangler NFR. It’s about where he finishes this year and whether he has one more gold buckle run in him at 43.
One more and he’d have eight tie-down roping world championships, tying him with Dean Oliver for the ProRodeo record.
It would be hard to write him off after the sort of consistency he’s shown in 2010. The latest evidence came over the Aug. 11-15 weekend when he won two more titles, the Sikeston (Mo.) Jaycee Bootheel Rodeo and the Lawton (Okla.) Rangers Rodeo.
Did we say consistency? At Sikeston, competing in the Wrangler Million Dollar Tour Silver rodeo, presented by Justin Boots, Whitfield finished second in both rounds and won the average by a full second over Boe Brown.
Whitfield also placed in both rounds at Lawton to push his earnings for the week to $9,023 and solidify his hold on sixth place in the world standings.
He trails leader Trevor Brazile by $19,566 – or a little bit more than one round win at the Wrangler NFR – with six more weeks to cut into that lead.
Given that Whitfield has won the Wrangler NFR average title four times and holds the 10-head record of 84.0 seconds, he has a great track record on rodeo’s biggest stage.
When he sat out last year, it was the first time he had ever failed to qualify for the Wrangler NFR, apart from a year he lost to injury, since he turned professional in 1990. That off year got him thinking about retiring.
“I just couldn’t think of another way where I could make $100,000 a year,” Whitfield said. “I refocused and rededicated myself. I’m not going to make any predictions, but all of a sudden winning another title isn’t out of the realm of possibility. A few years back, I probably would have popped off, but now all I’ll say is that I’d like to go to Las Vegas with a chance to win.
“There’s a lot of season left, and a lot can happen. Winning a world title has never been easy, and it won’t be easy now. It’s a full season, and you can’t win the world if you rope well in just one part of it. I’m happy to be where I am. I’m not quite a face in the crowd just yet.”
Steer wrestler Dane Hanna, of Starkville, Miss., continued his late-season surge by winning his third Wrangler Million Dollar Tour title in a month. He followed titles at Sheridan, Wyo., and Lovington, N.M., by prevailing in Sikeston with a time of 7.8 seconds on two head. Since the beginning of July, Hanna has advanced from 32nd in the world standings to 12th.
Dustin Elliott, the 2004 world champion bull rider, had a 93-point ride on Rafter H Rodeo’s Dr. Hou to claim the title and $5,167.
The other champions crowned in Art Saunders Arena were bareback riders Wes Stevenson and Jason Havens (87 points), team ropers Trevor Brazile and Patrick Smith (10.7 seconds on two head), saddle bronc rider Alex Wright (86 points) and barrel racer Angie Meadors (16.24 seconds).
Brazile surpasses $200,000 milestone, moves up in team roping standings
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – The one constant is that Trevor Brazile is going to win his money. Guessing in which event it’s going to come … well, that’s another matter. A week ago, Brazile earned more than $10,000 in steer roping competition. This week, the total was zero, but he and partner Patrick Smith won $10,218 in team roping in the Wrangler Million Dollar Tour Silver rodeos in Sikeston, Mo., and Hermiston, Ore., moving up a spot in the heading standings from fifth place to fourth. Brazile’s all-around total is now $206,981, giving him a record 10 consecutive seasons with earnings of more than $200,000. He has a lead of more than $100,000 over second-place Ryan Jarrett as he moves closer to a record eighth all-around gold buckle.
• Feild makes triumphant return to PRCA competition: Sidelined for two months while recovering from a broken right arm, bareback rider Kaycee Feild made a triumphant return to competition Aug. 13-14 by earning a share of the title at the Cache County Fair & Rodeo in Logan, Utah. Feild’s 85-point ride on Bar T Rodeo’s Pocahontas tied him with Paul Jones and Matt Bright, and they each earned $953. Feild was injured during an incident in the chute June 12 in Livermore, Calif., and had surgery two days later in Bountiful, Utah, to insert a plate and screws into his arm. Despite the long layoff, he remains seventh in the PRCA World Standings.
• Masters takes over team roping lead: And then there were four. Chad Masters and Jade Corkill paired to finish second at Hermiston, Ore., and sixth at Missoula, Mont., and the $5,253 they each banked was enough to send Masters ahead of Turtle Powell into first place among team roping headers. Powell is the third cowboy who won the $50,000 Shootout Round at RodeoHouston to fall out of first place, following tie-down roper Stran Smith and saddle bronc rider Rod Hay. Corkill remains second in the team roping heeling standings, nearly $7,000 behind leader Cory Petska.
• Patterson takes aim on steer roping record: What’s that old line, life begins at 40? After 15 years of being near the top of the steer roping hierarchy, Rocky Patterson seems to have caught another gear. He won his first world title last year at the Clem McSpadden National Finals Steer Roping in Guthrie, Okla., at age 43, and he’s doing all he can to build an insurmountable lead going into this November’s NFSR. With wins over the Aug. 11-15 weekend in Sonora, Texas, Coffeyville, Kan., and Poteau, Okla., plus a second-place finish in Ponca City, Okla., Patterson added $11,381 to his bank account. He now has $70,019 for the year and a lead of more than $26,000 over second-place Vin Fisher Jr. Patterson is in position to break the single-season earnings record for his event and become the first steer roper ever to surpass $100,000 in a single season. Never during his 18 world championship seasons did Guy Allen earn more than the record $99,132 he did in 1998. Patterson is nearly $30,000 ahead of his own pace of a year ago and more than $13,000 ahead of Scott Snedecor’s leading pace at this stage in 2009.
Harris fighting to extend his reign: Nevermind the slow start to his season, J.W. Harris is pushing hard to become the first bull rider to win three consecutive world championships since Don Gay in 1979-81. Harris, of Mullin, Texas, had three wins over the Aug. 11-15 weekend – in Lawton, Okla., Ponca City, Okla., and Coffeyville, Kan. – to earn $8,160 and move from eighth in the world standings to fourth. The biggest check came at the Lawton Rangers Rodeo, where Harris earned $4,874 for his devilishly good 87-point ride on Beutler & Son Rodeo’s No. 666.
Ohl edges toward 16th Wrangler NFR qualification: Fred Whitfield is not the only legendary tie-down roper making a late-season push. Cody Ohl, winner of five world championships, banked $6,391 over the weekend with a win at the Omak (Wash.) Stampede, a shared title at the Missoula (Mont.) Stampede and a check at the Sikeston (Mo.) Jaycee Bootheel Rodeo. The Hico, Texas, cowboy started the week on the bubble at No. 15 in the world standings and ended it in 14th place, about $3,000 back of Tyson Durfey (13th) and Clint Cooper (12th).
Next Up
Aug. 16 Aberdeen (S.D.) Dakota Stampede Rodeo begins
Aug. 17 Dayton (Pa.) ProRodeo begins
Aug. 17 Caldwell (Idaho) Night Rodeo begins
Aug. 17 Canby (Ore.) Rodeo begins
Aug. 18 Harford (Pa.) Championship Rodeo
Aug. 18 Juneau County Fair ProRodeo, Mauston, Wis., begins
Aug. 18 Jasper (Alberta) Heritage Rodeo begins
Aug. 19 Yellowstone Stampede ProRodeo, Billings, Mont., begins
Aug. 19 Cassia County Fair & Rodeo, Burley, Idaho, begins
Aug. 19 Freedom (Okla.) & Old Cowhands Reunion begins
Aug. 19 Gooding (Idaho) ProRodeo begins
Aug. 19 Northwest Montana Fair & Rodeo, Kalispell, Mont., begins
Aug. 19 Moses Lake (Wash.) Roundup begins
Aug. 20 Painted Pony Championships, Lake Luzerne, N.Y.
Aug. 20 Wyoming State Fair, Douglas, Wyo., begins
Aug. 20 Davis County Fair & Rodeo, Farmington, Utah, begins
Aug. 20 Imboden (Ark.) PRCA Rodeo begins
Aug. 20 Mesquite (Texas) Championship Rodeo begins
Aug. 20 Steamboat Springs (Colo.) ProRodeo Series begins
Aug. 20 Tehachapi Mountain PRCA Rodeo, Tehachapi, Calif., begins
Aug. 20 Riverboat Days PRCA Rodeo, Yankton, S.D., begins
Aug. 20 North Texas State Fair & Rodeo, Denton, Texas, begins
Aug. 20 Norco (Calif.) Mounted Posse Rodeo begins
Aug. 20 World’s Oldest Continuous Fair & Rodeo, Payson, Ariz., begins
Aug. 20 Pincher Creek (Alberta) Fair & Rodeo begins
Aug. 21 Chouteau County Fair & Rodeo, Fort Benton, Mont.
Aug. 21 Cowtown Rodeo, Woodstown Pilesgrove, N.J.
Aug. 21 Fallon County Fair & Rodeo, Baker, Mont., begins
Aug. 21 Brown County Fair ProRodeo, Depere, Wis., begins
Rodeo News and Notes
Mesquite (Texas) Championship Rodeo telecast regionally by Fox Southwest
The Mesquite Championship Rodeo series is back on Fox Sports Southwest.
Eight-time World Champion cowboy Joe Beaver hosts the weekly broadcasts from Resistol Arena, which air at 10:30 a.m. Saturdays and are rebroadcast Thursday afternoons (times vary) on a regional network that cover Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana.
Former Miss Rodeo Texas Joanna Blackwell provides interviews from the arena.
News and notes from the rodeo trail …
Riata Ranch International of Exeter, Calif., home to the PRCA specialty act The Riata Ranch Cowboy Girls since 1977, will be honored with a Cowboy Culture Award Sept. 9-12 in Lubbock, Texas. Jennifer Welch Nicholson, Brandi Phillips and Spencer Elizabeth Rose will be on hand to accept the award … Twelve recent Bexar County high school graduates, all members of San Antonio-area 4-H clubs, will receive a total of $192,000 in scholarships from the San Antonio Livestock Exposition (SALE) to aid in their pursuit of a degree in agriculture, agribusiness, life sciences or a related field … After more than 50 years in the Freeman Coliseum, the San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo has relocated to a new corporate headquarters at 723 AT&T Parkway … Rodeo Austin (Texas) awarded $370,000 in scholarships to 46 central Texas students Aug. 12 at the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum … The 3rd annual Chicks ‘n Chaps Women’s Only Rodeo Clinic in Missoula, Mont., drew 225 participants Aug. 12 to learn about the sport from PRCA cowboys and to raise money for breast cancer victims in the community … Team ropers Tyrell Gordon and Kolton Schmidt won back-to-back PRCA rodeos in Grimshaw, Alberta, and La Crete, Alberta, but you are not going to see them show up in the PRCA World Standings any time soon. Neither Gordon, 18, nor his 16-year-old header Schmidt, is a PRCA permit holder; Schmidt is too young to even apply. They were both competing in these rodeos because they were co-sanctioned by the Canadian Professional Rodeo Association (CPRA), which has no age restriction for timed-event contestants
