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Cole Gets the Edge at Greeley Stampede

GREELEY, COLO. – Steer wrestler Cole Edge celebrated July 4 in a big way and jump-started what he hopes is a strong summer run with an impressive win at the Greeley Stampede.

Edge won the first round with a run of 3.7 seconds and took second in the July 4 finals round with a 4.1. That was good enough to win the two-head average with a time of 7.8 seconds, a full six-tenths ahead of runner-up Kyle Maez, who won the finals round in 3.7.

“It’s great to get a win at a big rodeo like Greeley,” Edge said. “You’ve got to have big wins like that to really boost you up.

“I had a really good steer that first round. I’d seen him a lot, and was really happy to have him. I was fortunate to draw good again and Jacob (Shofner) did an excellent (as the hazer).”

Edge travels with fellow bulldoggers Shofner and his brother, Cooper Shofner, and Miles Switzer.

Edge qualified for his first Wrangler National Finals Rodeo in 2014 and finished fifth in the average race. He earned $106,120 last year to finish 13th in the world standings. He’s anxious to get back to the Finals this year, and the win in Greeley should jump him from 47th in the June 29 world standings into the top 25.

“I didn’t have that good of a winter,” Edge said. “I’d better bear down now. The race is to get to the Finals, because that’s where you can really get ahead and put some money back and invest.”

In 2010, he was 28th in the world with $49,459 and was 22nd in 2011 with $45,496.

“I felt I was knocking on the door and my time was coming, then I had an accident in Clovis (Calif.) and had to have surgery on my wrist and was out six months, and then sat out part of next year, too, when I wasn’t doing very well. I got married during that time, too, so my perspective changed on a lot of things.”

Just after winning Greeley, Edge took his 15-year-old horse, Twiggy, to the vet. In Greeley, he’d ridden Max, a horse he leases from Todd Suhn, who tore his rotator cuff earlier this season.

“I’d ridden Twiggy somewhere in Oregon and then we drove all day and night to get to the short round at Greeley,” Edge said. “She was puffed up when we got there, so as soon as it was over, we went to the vet.”

He rode Twiggy at last year’s Finals in Las Vegas.

“She’ll be fine,” he said. “She’ll probably be off at least a month. That’s unfortunate, especially since we’re at the height of rodeo season.”

Edge, 30, was born in Humboldt, Iowa, and went to college at Southeastern Oklahoma State (Durant), where he earned a bachelor’s degree in business management. He finished third in the College National Finals Rodeo in steer wrestling in 2007.

Other winners at the $292,922 rodeo were all-around cowboy Caleb Smidt ($9,630 in tie-down roping and team roping), bareback rider Orin Larsen (171 points on two head), team ropers Aaron Tsinigine and Ryan Motes (10.9 seconds on two head), saddle bronc riders Tyrel Larsen and Isaac Diaz (162 points each on two head), tie-down roper Blane Cox (19.0 seconds on two head), barrel racer Jill Welsh (34.40 seconds on two head) and bull rider McKennon Wimberly (152 points on two head).

Read more about the Greeley Stampede in the July 17 ProRodeo Sports News.

Courtesy of PRCA

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