BY BRETT NIERENGARTEN @PRORODEOBRETT
The St. Paul Rodeo was the highest paying rodeo over 4th of July with a total payoff of about $440,000, that’s more than $1,000 per resident from the tiny town of 431 people in Northwest Oregon.
Don’t let the population fool you, every year more than 50,000 fans file into the rodeo grounds and they were treated to a big win from an experienced young bareback rider, a tight battle among NFR steer wrestlers, an arena record from the member of the Wright family and a night full of 90 in the bull riding.
Cole Reiner went on a tear over Cowboy Christmas and no rodeo paid the three-time NFR bareback rider more than St. Paul. He was 88 points on Sankey Pro Rodeo & Phenom Genetics’ Mustard to win $12,400 as part of a week in which he won about $25,000 to go from No. 8 to No. 4 in the PRCA World Standings.
In steer wrestling, Ty Erickson, Tristan Martin and Dirk Tavenner all tied with 4 flat in Round before Tavenner’s 4.1 pushed him across the line in first. Tavenner moved closer to making it three trips to Vegas in a row by going from outside the Top 50 to No. 22 in the world over Cowboy Christmas.
The arena record in the Wright family? It didn’t come from Stetson, Rusty, Ryder or Statler, rather it was their cousin Stu, the 26-year-old rookie. Stu was 91.5 points aboard reigning Horse of the Year, Black Tie, to win the rodeo. He also made massive jump in the World Standings from No. 37 to No. 22.
Usually if you ride for 90 in the final performance, it’s enough to win the rodeo, but that was not the case for seven-time World Champion Sage Kimzey. Just minutes after he was 90, Braden Richardson was 90.5 to claim the title. There were five rides of 87.5 or better throughout the week in St. Paul.
The remaining champions were Cole Thomas/Clay Green in team roping (9.4 seconds on two), Shane Hanchey in tie-down roping (17.3 seconds on two) and Tarryn Lee in barrel racing (17.13 seconds).
BAREBACK RIDING
First Round: 1. Cole Reiner, 88 points on Sankey Pro Rodeo & Phenom Genetics’ Mustard, $12,486; 2. Jacek Frost, 87.5, $9,572; 3. Sam Petersen, 87, $7,075; 4. (tie) Jacob Lees and Jacob Raine, 85.5, $3,746 each; 6. (tie) Clayton Biglow and Kade Sonnier, 85, $1,873 each; 8. (tie) Taylor Broussard and Trenten Montero, 84, $624 each.
STEER WRESTLING
First Round: 1. (tie) Ty Erickson, Tristan Martin and Dirk Tavenner, 4.0 seconds, $3,634 each; 4. (tie) Will Lummus and Ryan Shuckburgh, 4.2, $2,271 each; 6. Tyler Waguespack, 4.3, $1,454; 7. (tie) Nick Guy and Gus McGinn, 4.4, $636 each.
Second Round: 1. (tie) Joshua Hefner and Dalton Massey, 4.0 seconds, $3,906 each; 3. (tie) Bridger Anderson, Marc Joiner, Payden McIntyre, Ringo Robinson and Dirk Tavenner, 4.1, $1,999 each; 8. Jacob Talley, 4.2, $363.
Average: 1. Dirk Tavenner, 8.1 seconds on two head, $6,268; 2. Tristan Martin, 8.7, $5,451; 3. Nick Guy, 9.3, $4,633; 4. Tyler Waguespack, 9.9, $3,815; 5. Trisyn Kalawaia, 10.0, $2,998; 6. (tie) Riley Duvall and Stetson Jorgensen, 10.1, $1,771 each; 8. Stephen Culling, 10.2, $545.
Team roping
First Round: 1. Cole Thomas/Clay Green, 4.2 seconds, $4,129 each; 2. Clint Summers/Jake Long, 4.5, $3,591; 3. Kaleb Driggers/Junior Nogueira, 4.6, $3,052; 4. (tie) Dustin Egusquiza/Levi Lord and Jeff Flenniken/Tyler Worley, 4.7, $2,244 each; 6. Brenten Hall/Paden Bray, 4.8, $1,436; 7. (tie) J7 Bland/Tyson Thompson, Wyatt Bray/Josh Patton, Rhen Richard/Jeremy Buhler and Matt Sherwood/Dylin Ahlstrom, 4.9, $314 each.
Second Round: 1. (tie) Luke Brown/Hunter Koch and Nelson Wyatt/Chase Tryan, 4.2 seconds, $3,860 each; 3. (tie) Jake Orman/Corey Hendrick, Coleman Proctor/Logan Medlin and Dalton Turner/Clay Clayman, 4.6, $2,514 each; 6. Tanner Tomlinson/Patrick Smith, 4.7, $1,436; 7. Hayes Smith/Jason Duby, 4.9, $898; 8. Rhen Richard/Jeremy Buhler, 5.0, $359.
Average: 1. Cole Thomas/Clay Green, 9.4 seconds on two head, $6,194 each; 2. Rhen Richard/Jeremy Buhler, 9.9, $5,386; 3. Brenten Hall/Paden Bray, 10.4, $4,578; 4. Matt Sherwood/Dylin Ahlstrom, 10.9, $3,770; 5. Zach Kilgus/Tyler McKnight, 12.0, $2,962; 6. Clint Summers/Jake Long, 14.0, $2,154; 7. Tanner Tomlinson/Patrick Smith, 14.8, $1,347; 8. (tie) Coleman Proctor/Logan Medlin, J7 Bland/Tyson Thompson and Wyatt Bray/Josh Patton, 14.9, $180 each.
SADDLE BRONC RIDING
First Round: 1. Stu Wright, 91.5 points on Sankey Pro Rodeo & Phenom Genetics’ Black Tie, $12,620; 2. (tie) Tanner Butner, Isaac Diaz and Leon Fountain, 87.5, $7,151 each; 5. (tie) Ben Andersen and Layton Green, 87, $2,524 each; 7. Stetson Dell Wright, 85.5, $1,683; 8. Wyatt Casper, 84.5, $1,262.
TIE-DOWN ROPING
First Round: 1. Justin Smith, 7.9 seconds, $4,253; 2. Shad Mayfield, 8.2, $3,698; 3. Taylor Santos, 8.3, $3,143; 4. Lucas Potter, 8.4, $2,589; 5. Jordan Ketscher, 8.6, $2,034; 6. (tie) Shane Hanchey and Jake Pratt, 8.7, $1,202 each; 8. Chance Thiessen, 8.8, $370.
Second Round: 1. Marcos Costa, 7.7 seconds, $4,253; 2. (tie) Dylan Hancock and Joel Harris, 8.3, $3,421 each; 4. Justin Farber, 8.4, $2,589; 5. Shane Hanchey, 8.6, $2,034; 6. Blane Cox, 8.7, $1,479; 7. Tom Crouse, 8.8, $925; 8. Trevor Hale, 8.9, $370.
Average: 1. Shane Hanchey, 17.3 seconds on two head, $6,379; 2. Chance Thiessen, 17.8, $5,547; 3. (tie) Shad Mayfield and Joel Harris, 18.1, $4,299 each; 5. (tie) Hunter Herrin and Riley Mason Webb, 18.6, $2,635 each; 7. Justin Smith, 18.7, $1,387; 8. Blane Cox, 18.8, $555.
BARREL RACING
First Round: 1. Tarryn Lee, 17.13 seconds, $10,686; 2. Ashley Castleberry, 17.24, $8,549; 3. Tracy Nowlin, 17.29, $6,946; 4. Jimi Jones, 17.30, $5,343; 5. Sissy Winn, 17.43, $4,274; 6. Hailey Kinsel, 17.44, $3,206; 7. Ilyssa Riley, 17.46, $2,671; 8. Colleen Kingsbury, 17.47, $2,404; 9. Steely Steiner, 17.48, $2,137; 10. Lindsey Ham, 17.51, $1,870; 11. Andrea Busby, 17.57, $1,603; 12. Rachelle Riggers, 17.58, $1,336; 13. Cambria Estep, 17.59, $1,069; 14. Amberleigh Moore, 17.66, $801; 15. Jamie Olsen, 17.69, $534.
BULL RIDING
First Round: 1. Braden Richardson, 90.5 points on Big Stone Rodeo Inc’s Mr. Clean, $12,450; 2. Sage Kimzey, 90, $9,545; 3. (tie) Grayson Cole and Junior Souza, 88.5, $5,810 each; 5. Garrett Smith, 87.5, $2,905; 6. Hayes Weight, 87, $2,075; 7. Trey Kimzey, 86.5, $1,660; 8. Colton Kelly, 85, $1,245.
