Clint Cooper escapes forgotten man status with win at the SandHills Stock Show and Rodeo
ODESSA, Texas - With all the buzz created by his PRCA Rookie-of-the-Year little brother Tuf Cooper, it was easy for tie-down roper Clint Cooper to get overlooked last season.
That appears to be over.
Clint Cooper placed in both rounds of the SandHills Stock Show & Rodeo, held Jan. 2-3, 7-10, and won the average title by a full second over Johnny Emmons of Weatherford, Texas.
Cooper's earnings of $6,095 took him all the way to first place in the Jan. 12 PRCA World Standings.
"It is great to win your first rodeo of the year," said Cooper, who celebrated his 27th birthday during the rodeo. "It gives you so much confidence that you can be competitive throughout the season."
A 2007 Wrangler National Finals Rodeo qualifier, Clint slipped in the standings to 45th last year while adjusting to being a new father. Son Casen Dale was born last March 28 and it was sometimes difficult for Clint to stay focused on the job at hand when he was away from home in Decatur, Texas, for extended stretches.
Wife Amber and Casen were with Cooper at Odessa, and the plan is to have them with him "as much as possible" this season while he tries to fight his way back to a third Wrangler NFR qualification.
"There is no other better feeling than (fatherhood)," Cooper said. "It is a blessing, and it sure did change me. I don't know if I can quite express what it means to me. It was great to have my family here with me. It figures to be quite a year."
Cooper was one of four men who parlayed wins at the $339,027 SandHills Stock Show & Rodeo into the top spot in the PRCA World Standings.
The 2007 World Champion Header Chad Masters and partner Michael Jones took over first place in the standings with a win in the team roping average at the Ector County Coliseum, and defending World Champion Steer Roper Scott Snedecor moved into first place by claiming the four-head average by 1.2 seconds over Leo Campbell with a time of 43.2 seconds.
Vin Fisher Jr. of Andrews, Texas, was third in the steer roping and eighth in the tie-down roping to earn the all-around championship at Odessa with $4,859.
Utah's Rusty Allen won the saddle bronc riding with a score of 85 points on Harry Vold Rodeo's Pine Cone to earn $5,301 and push his season total to $11,632, the highest total of any PRCA competitor by nearly $1,000 over bull rider Kanin Asay and nearly $7,000 better than Kanin's brother Kaleb Asay, who is No. 2 in the saddle bronc riding standings.
Mikkelson doubles up on the Dodge Montana Circuit Finals Rodeo
GREAT FALLS, Mont. - Things seem to be coming to Bryant Mikkelson in pairs these days.
Mikkelson, whose wife Tiffany is due to deliver twins later this month, placed in both the steer wrestling and the tie-down roping in the Jan. 9-11 Dodge Montana Circuit Finals Rodeo, presented by U.S. Smokeless Tobacco, to clinch the all-around championship at the Four Seasons Arena and also the circuit's year-end championship.
The Buffalo, Mont., cowboy put an emphatic stamp on his triumph by winning the third round of the steer wrestling on Jan. 11 with a time of 4.1 seconds and winning the average in the tie-down roping by more than 10 seconds over Sam Levine (32.8 to 43.2).
Mikkelson, 31, will represent Montana in tie-down roping at the April 8-11 Dodge National Circuit Finals Rodeo in Pocatello, Idaho, presented by U.S. Smokeless Tobacco, where he will be joined by Ryan Siemsen, the circuit's year-end champion in tie-down roping. And, yes, Mikkelson figures to take two horses to Pocatello, just as he did for the circuit finals.
The others to qualify for the DNCFR with average wins at Great Falls were bareback rider Ben Wrzesinski of Boulder, Mont. (234 points on three head), steer wrestler Bill Boyce of Lewistown (25.9/3), team ropers Shane Schwenke, of Harlem, Mont./Jordan Handy of Chinook, Mont. (38.2/3), saddle bronc rider Shane Moran of Great Falls, Mont. (237/3), barrel racer Theresa Walter of Billings, Mont., (39.17/3) and bull rider Cody Buller of Glendive, Mont. (151/2).
Moran finished tied with Josh Reynolds of Corvallis, Mont., but won the tiebreaker by having the highest-scored ride, an 88-pointer in round three aboar Brookman Rodeo's Gringo Honeymoon.
Maier only bull rider to go 2-for-2 at National Western Stock Show in Denver
Bull rider Corey Maier of Timber Lake, S.D., is the only competitor to have completed two successful rides during the opening weekend of the National Western Stock Show, Jan. 10-11, in the Denver Coliseum. Maier was third in the first round and second in the second round for a total score of 162 points. That puts him 75 points ahead of second place Cory McFadden of Coleman, Texas, who won the first round with a score of 87 points on Flying Five Rodeo's Fire Water. Wyatt Hancock of Taylor, Ariz., the younger brother of 2000 World Champion Bull Rider Cody Hancock, has the early lead in the bareback riding with 155 points on two head. Hancock won the first round with an 80-point ride on Big Bend Rodeo's Faded Dice and finished second in round two. All of the contestants at Denver compete in two back-to-back perfomances over the course of the next two weeks. The top 12 at the conclusion of the preliminary rounds will advance to the finals, where they will compete for nearly $300,000 in prize money and hand-made sterling silver gold trophy buckles. The rodeo resumes Jan. 15 and runs through Jan. 25.
Upcoming PRCA Rodeos
Jan. 15 National Western Stock Show and Rodeo, Denver, resumes
Jan. 15 Dodge First Frontier Circuit Finals Rodeo, Harrisburg, Pa., begins
Jan. 15 Mid-Winter Fair & Rodeo, Lafayette, La., begins
Jan. 15 Amicus Club PRCA Rodeo, Alexandria, La., begins
Jan. 16 Americom Pro Rodo Classic, Lakeland, Fla., begins
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