LeMond/Adams tie world record en route to victory at Corpus Christi
By Johnna Espinoza
Well, they are on the same page now – a page in the record book. After struggling a bit earlier in the season, team roping header JoJo LeMond and reigning World Champion Heeler Randon Adams have proven they have chemistry and speed to perform at a championship level.
LeMond and Adams tied the ProRodeo world record with a 3.5-second run in the slack of the Buc Days Pro Rodeo, April 22 in Corpus Christi, Texas, and then went on to win the average title as well with a time of 8.2 seconds on two head.
LeMond, of Andrews, Texas, and Adams, from Logandale, Nev., are the fifth team in history to post the time, which was originally set by Blaine Linaweaver and Jory Levy in 2001. (See world record holders listed below.)
Trying to break down what factors led to the world record time proved to be difficult, even for the experienced roper.
“It just happened really fast,” said the 26-year-old LeMond, who turned pro in 2002. “I don’t know. I’m going to say it was as close to a perfect run as we could make.
“Whenever he and I make a good run, and it connects, it’s going to be fast. He heels so fast. He’s the fastest heeler going down the road right now.”
LeMond and Adams joined forces after Adams and header Matt Sherwood claimed the 2008 world title at the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo last December in Las Vegas. Adams and Sherwood decided to try roping with other partners, clearing the way for LeMond and Adams to team up. However, the duo didn’t click right away, and they took a short break while Adams reunited with Sherwood as Wilderness Circuit partners at the 2009 Dodge National Circuit Finals Rodeo, presented by U.S. Smokeless Tobacco, April 8-11, in Pocatello, Idaho.
After the DNCFR, LeMond and Adams realized they needed to fine-tune their teamwork. The pair actually needed to slow things down and figure out how to compete in-sync.
“We went to my house in Texas and hung out for a week,” LeMond said. “We probably ran 225 steers in three days. We had four or five horses saddled apiece and roped all day long.
“The first day we got to practice together and put runs together, we had a breakthrough,” LeMond said. “I realized I didn’t have to go as fast with him. I could ride one more stride closer and make the steers hit harder for him. I was hiding the steers from him. I was trying to go up the pen more. The position he rides, he needs them to hit in front of him more than I was showing them to him.”
Adams, 27, is riding the reigning AQHA Team Roping Heeling Horse of the Year, Diesel, and LeMond is riding Bull, a horse who helped him finish seventh in the world in 2008.
The pair now turns its attention to climbing up the PRCA World Standings. With earnings of $3,398 at the American Bank Center, LeMond moved up to 12th among headers and Adams to 14th place among heelers. They won the average by three-tenths of a second over Cody Odell and Dustin Davis. Trevor Brazile and Patrick Smith, the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo average champions, finished third in 8.7 seconds.
It wasn’t a world record, but Bradley Harter’s ride in the saddle bronc riding on April 23 at the Buc Days Pro Rodeo was one of the best of the season. The Weatherford, Texas, cowboy scored 91 points on Let ‘er Rip of the Frontier Rodeo Company string. Two cowboys, Doug Vold and Glen O’Neill, share the ProRodeo saddle bronc riding world record of 95 points.
J.B. Mauney and Bobby Welsh shared the bull riding championship with 90-point rides and each earned $6,325.
The other champions were steer wrestler Jule Hazen of Protection, Kan. (7.6 seconds on two head), bareback rider Wes Stevenson of Lubbock, Texas (86 points), tie-down roper Bubba Paschal of La Porte, Texas (17.0 seconds on two head), and barrel racer Mattie Little of Ardmore, Okla. (13.30 seconds).
Fastest times – team roping
*3.5 seconds – Blaine Linaweaver/Jory Levy in San Angelo, Texas, 2001; Clay Tryan/Patrick Smith at Wrangler NFR, 2005; Todd Colter/Cesar de la Cruz at Wrangler ProRodeo Championships in Dallas, 2008; Travis Tryan/Cory Petska, at Wrangler NFR, 2008; and JoJo LeMond/Randon Adams, in Corpus Christi, Texas, 2009.
McDaniel shows world championship form in Clovis, Lufkin rodeos
As the weather starts to warm up, so too does Justin McDaniel's bid for a second consecutive bareback riding world championship.
The Porum, Okla., cowboy jumped two spots to fifth place in the PRCA World Standings April 22-26 with a pair of victories against top-notch fields, in the Clovis (Calif.) Rodeo and in the Angelina Benefit Rodeo in Lufkin, Texas.
McDaniel had an 86-point ride on Burch Rodeo Company's Big 85 to edge Kaycee Feild by two points and earn $5,714 in Clovis. Another 86-pointer in Lufkin, on Silverado Rodeo's Widower, brought McDaniel another $2,021. He was one point better at the George H. Henderson Jr. Exposition Center than current PRCA world standings leader Clint Cannon and two-time World Champion Bobby Mote, who tied for second place.
The win in Clovis was the second-biggest paycheck McDaniel has cashed this season behind the $5,743 he won in Jackson, Miss., and he credited Big 85 for making it possible.
"That's the best trip I've seen the horse have," McDaniel told the Fresno (Calif.) Bee. "It was kicking and jumping high, and that's what the judges are looking for."
Tie-down roper Ryan Watkins of Stephenville, Texas, extended his lead in the PRCA World Standings by winning the three-head average with a time of 26.5 seconds on three head. Watkins, who earlier won RodeoHouston, has season earnings of $62,203 to lead second-place Clint Robinson by more than $17,000.
The other champions at Clovis Rodeo Arena were 2006 World Champion Steer Wrestler Dean Gorsuch (18.0 seconds on three head), 2007 World Champion Team Roping Header Chad Masters and heeler Jade Corkill (20.0 seconds on three head), saddle bronc rider Anthony Bello (82 points), barrel racer Brenda Mays (34.54 seconds on two runs) and bull riders Zack Oakes and Steve Woolsey (87 points).
Oklahoma's richest rodeo draws more than 860 contestants to Guymon
- courtesy of Ted Harbin
GUYMON, Okla. – How does a community in the middle of No Man’s Land attract the best cowboys and cowgirls in ProRodeo?
Primarily, it’s because the community steps up in an effort to produce one of the best events each season in both the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association and the Women’s Professional Rodeo Association. There’s a reason it’s been recognized as the PRCA’s large outdoor rodeo of the year – in the same field as Cheyenne (Wyo.) Frontier Days, California Rodeo (Salinas), Pendleton (Ore.) Roundup and countless others.
There’s a reason it’s Oklahoma’s Richest Rodeo.
“We have countless volunteers who really step up to the plate to put this thing on,” said Ken Stonecipher, a key member of the rodeo committee that produces the annual Guymon Pioneer Days Rodeo. The 2009 version begins Monday morning at Henry C. Hitch Pioneer Arena.
Action continues every day in non-performance competition known as slack, and the performances are set for 7:30 p.m. Friday; 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday; and 2 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are on sale at various locations. It will be the home of world champions like Billy Etbauer and Fred Whitfield and Justin McDaniel. It will be the home of terrific acts like funnyman John Harrison and charro Tomas Garcilazo.
In all, more than 860 contestants have entered this year’s festivities, ready to nod their heads at a chance at thousands of dollars in prize money.
“Every year, we’re able to get hundreds of the top contestants in our rodeo because, one, they know there’s good money in Guymon,” Stonecipher said. “It’s also a cowboy’s rodeo, and we do everything we can to make this their home.
“Hundreds of them will be in town all week, and that’s a huge financial benefit to this community. They know they can win a ton of money and give themselves a great chance at qualifying for the National Finals Rodeo.”
Two free rodeo day camps set for June in Iowa, Wyoming
Students in Iowa and Wyoming will soon have the opportunity to learn about rodeo for free. Two additional camps have been added to the PRCA Championship Rodeo Camp series after the success of the roughstock camp in Hinton, Okla., earlier this month.
Next up, introductory roughstock day camps will be held June 6-7 at the Dayton (Iowa) Rodeo Arena and June 10-11 at the Cody (Wyo.) Stampede Park.
The camps are free of charge; however, interested students must complete necessary paperwork before participating.
The camps are being organized by the PRCA’s Industry Outreach Department to give more young athletes an opportunity to learn about rodeo for free.
“Some cowboys may not have a parent or older sibling with ProRodeo experience and may not have access to instruction,” said Cindy Schonholtz, industry outreach director. “We want to provide future ProRodeo athletes free opportunities to learn how to use rodeo equipment and to be around livestock.”
For more information, or to register for a camp, contact Julie Jutten at 719.528.4729 or by e-mail at jjutten@prorodeo.com.
To read a recap of the camp in Hinton, Okla., go to the Youth Rodeo page on ProRodeo.com. Click on “Youth Rodeo” on the left menu bar under “About the PRCA.” Rodeo camp dates and a youth rodeo finals schedule are also listed.
NFL draft has a rodeo connection or two
There were a couple of rodeo storylines to come out of the April 25-26 National Football League Draft. The St. Louis Rams chose Baylor offensive tackle Jason Smith with the second pick of the first round, the highest draft position ever for a 6-6, 309-pound team roper, and the Miami Dolphins used their seventh-round pick on J.D. Folsom, a linebacker out of Weber State who was a rodeo star in high school and still thinks about owning an arena some day. Billy Thompson told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that when he was an assistant football coach at W.T. White High in Dallas, he had difficulty getting Smith into the summer weight program "because he was going around roping all over the state of Texas.” Smith has put his horse, Old Gray, out to pasture back in Texas to concentrate on his career in football, but hasn't lost his love for team roping. “I’m still pretty good at it,” Smith said.
Upcoming PRCA Rodeos
April 30 Helotes Festival Association Rodeo, Helotes, Texas, begins
May 1 Guymon Pioneer Days Rodeo, Guymon, Okla., begins
May 1 Kern County Sheriff Reserve Stampede Days Rodeo, Bakersfield, Calif., begins
May 1 Royal Gorge Rodeo, Cañon City, Colo., begins
May 1 Chisholm Trail Stampede, Duncan, Okla., begins
May 1 Bossier County PRCA Rodeo, Fairfield, Texas, begins
May 1 Crowley's Ridge Saddle Club & Lions Club PRCA Rodeo, begins
May 1 Leduc Black Gold Rodeo & Exhibition, Leduc, Alberta, begins
May 1 Stavely Indoor Rodeo, Stavely, Alberta, begins
May 2 Stonyford Rodeo, Stonyford, Calif., begins
