The National Western Stock Show and Rodeo is underway in Denver and it has a new look.
This year, the National Western Stock Show and Rodeo will feature a tournament-style format featuring 80 contestants per event – bareback riding, steer wrestling, team roping (heading and heeling), saddle bronc riding, tie-down roping, barrel racing and bull riding
Each contestant will compete in the first two rounds, competing in back-to-back performances/sets, with round 1 being the first performance of a set and round 2 being the second performance of a set. The top 24 in the average will advance to the semifinals.
The semifinals have three brackets (performances) taking place on Saturday, Jan. 25, where each athlete will begin with a clean slate of times/scores. The top four athletes in each event from the semifinals brackets will advance to the finals on Sunday, Jan. 26.
The contestants in the finals will again start with a clean slate of times/scores. The highest-scored ride or fastest time in the championship round will be crowned champion.
So far, there have been four qualifying performances/sets, meaning roughly half the athletes have competed in each event.
Here is how the leaderboards have shaped up so far.
Bareback Riding
Iowa cowboy Tim O’Connell leads the way in bareback riding after notching the top score in both rounds so far. In his first round, which was Saturday afternoon, he rode Bailey Pro Rodeo’s Black Sunday for 88 points. In his second round ride, O’Connell scored an 87.5.
“If it wasn’t a tournament, I would feel good about it,” O’Connell said. “I know they wipe the slate clean in the semifinals. But, I feel good about my riding and I felt sharp and things were rolling and under my command.”
With a total qualifying score of 175.5, O’Connell is seven points clear of second-place Garrett Shadbolt. Texas cowboy Richmond Champion sits in third with 167.5, Spur Lacasse is just behind Champion at 167 and Chad Rutherford and Chance Ames are tied for fifth at 166.5. Those were the only qualified rides.
Saddle Bronc Riding
Kobyn Williams sits atop the saddle bronc riding standings thanks to a ride of 83 in his first round and a ride of 85.5 in his second round.
The 83 he scored in Round 1 tied for first with Brody Cress.
Ryder Wright is in second thanks to the top saddle bronc ride of the rodeo so far. He rode The Cervi Brothers’ Tank for an 88 in his second round, which was Saturday night. He scored 166 points total, 2.5 behind Kobyn Williams.
Chet Johnson is currently in third with a score of 163.5, Rusty Wright and CoBurn Bradshaw are tied for fourth at 159 and Ben Andersen scored 158 in his two qualifying rides. Those were the only qualified rides.
Barrel Racing
Tillar Murray is in first place in barrel racing and has the fastest time in each round so far in Denver.
She had a ride of 14.97 seconds, the only sub-15.00 time in the rodeo in her first round, which was Friday evening. She followed that up with a second-round time of 15.00 on Saturday morning.
Jimmie Smith’s total qualifying time was 30.20, just behind Murray’s 29.97. Ivy Hurst, who has the second best first round ride so far at 15.03 seconds, is in third with a total time of 30.34, Tiany Schuster and Jill Tanner are in fourth at a time of 30.73 each and Karson Bradley is sixth with 30.74. Those with the only qualified times.
Bull Riding
Toby Collins totaled 174 points in his two qualifying and currently is in first place in bull riding.
Collins has the only 90-point ride of the rodeo and it came on Cervi Championship Rodeo’s Rawhide in the second round. Clayton Sellars, who is in second overall, has the second best time of the second round so far with an 86-point ride. Sellars has 171 points, placing him and Collins well ahead of the rest of the field.
Shad Winn has 158 points and is in third, Coy Pollmeier is in fourth with 157.5, Cordell Curtis is fifth with 154 and Boudreaux Campbell is sixth with 143 points. Those were the only qualified rides.
Steer Wrestling
27-year-old Jayce Melvin sits atop the steer wrestling leaderboard so far with an aggregate time of 8.20 seconds on two head.
The Fort Pierre, South Dakota native has remained consistent through two rounds placing in a tie for second in Round 1 through the first four sets with a time of 4.0 seconds and placing fifth so far in Round 2 with a run of 4.2 seconds.
Melvin is 0.6 seconds clear of Jacob Edler, who sits in second place at 8.8 seconds.
Stetson Jorgenson is in third place with an aggregate score of 9.2 seconds. There is a tie for fourth place between Laine Herl and Dirk Tavenner at 9.9 seconds. 2019 NFR qualifier Hunter Cure rounds out the qualified runs with an aggregate time of 10.0 seconds.
Team Roping
It is a tight race in team roping after two rounds, with the duo of Brenten Hall and Chase Tryan tied with Cody Snow and Paul Eaves.
Both teams had an aggregate time of 10.3 seconds on two head.
Sitting in third place with an aggregate time of 10.6 seconds is the tandem of Charly Crawford and Logan Medlin. Jhett Trenary and Trevor Schnaufer hold fourth place at 10.8 seconds and in fifth place sit Clay Smith and Jade Corkill at 11.1 seconds. Rhen Richard and Jeremy Buhler are in sixth with a total time of 11.3 seconds. There were no other qualified runs.
Tie-down Roping
San Angelo, Texas native Ty Harris is leading the way in tie-down roping through the first four sets.
Harris, a 2019 NFR qualifier, has an aggregate time of 15.4 seconds on two head. In his first round run, Harris stopped the clock at 8.1 seconds, good enough for third place so far. He is also currently tied for the top spot in the second round with a run of 7.3 seconds.
Harris is a full second clear of second-place, where Chase Williams sits with an aggregate time of 16.4 seconds.
Westyn Hughes holds the third spot with a total time of 16.6 seconds. In fourth place sits Tyler Milligan with a time of 16.8 seconds. Ryle Smith is alone in fifth place with a total time of 17.0 seconds. Shad Mayfield, a 2019 NFR qualifier, rounds out the qualified runs and is in sixth place with an aggregate time of 18.0 seconds.
