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Doescher Does the Rooftop Two-Step

Cody Doescher transitions from his horse to his steer during his 3.9-second steer wrestling run on opening night of Rooftop Rodeo. (GREG WESTFALL PHOTO)

ESTES PARK, Colo. – At Rooftop Rodeo, every cowboy and cowgirl has a chance to “Ride for the Bucks.”

It’s a longstanding tradition in which the top score or fastest time of each event in0 each performance will win a $100 bill. Oklahoma City cowboy Cody Doescher earned two of them Wednesday on opening night of Estes Park’s rodeo.

“It’s awesome,” said Doescher, who sits 16th in the all-around and 33rd in the heeling world standings. “The committee here is great and put up that money for us. If a guy does good in the performance but may be a little too long (on time), he can still get some fuel money out of this deal. It may not count for the standings, but every dollar helps going down the road.”

In rodeo, dollars equal points, and the contestants in each event with the most money earned at the conclusion of the 2017 season will be crowned world champions. There are no guarantees in the sport, and only the top finishers will cash in.

Doescher has a good chance to earn some big-time money in Estes Park. He leads the first round of steer wrestling after a 3.9-second run. He followed that by making a 5.4-second team roping run with his heading partner, Marcus Theriot of Poplarville, Miss.

“We had a good Fourth (of July) run,” Doescher said. We drew some tough steers in team roping and got by a couple of tough steers. We had a tough one right there tonight. My partner reached a long way, did a good job and let me heel him fast.

“I had a good steer in bulldogging. I got a really good start, and it worked out really good.”

This is the first year he and Theriot have teamed together. Theriot is just 20 years old and still new to ProRodeo, but he already is a college champion; he won the all-around and tie-down roping titles at the 2016 College National Finals Rodeo.

“This has been a great year,” Doescher said. “The partnership between Marcus and me just fell into our laps. It works out really good because we both bulldog and we both team roping. Marcus is really hand and is a great cowboy.

“I think we have a good chance at the NFR. I think I have a partner that’s going to give me a lot of chances. If I can do my part, I think we should make it.”

There is a lot of rodeo to take place over the next two and a half months of the 2017 season, and that opens the door wide for the Oklahoma man. He’s off to a good start at Rooftop Rodeo and will return Monday to make his second-round run in steer wrestling.

“This is probably my sixth or seventh time here,” he said. “The hospitality is great, the setup is good and the steers are usually good. Everybody on the committee is so good to us here. There are free plug-ins and stalls, and it’s nice to stay up here in the cool weather.

“I’ve won a couple rounds in team roping and haven’t done a whole lot in bulldogging. I’ve picked at them a little bit, but I’ve never really dominated here. Hopefully this year we can step it up a little bit.”

He’s off to a great start.

Rooftop Rodeo
Estes Park, Colo.
July 5-10, 2017
Leaders through first performance

Bareback riding: 1. (tie) Luke Creasy, on Cervi Rodeo’s Show Me the Money, and Shane O’Connell, on Cervi Rodeo’s Blood Bath, 75 points; 3. Ben Hall, 64; Shon Gibson, 62; no other qualified rides.

Steer wrestling: 1. Cody Doescher, 3.9 seconds; 2. Justice Johnson, 44.; 3. Jarett New, 4.8; 4. Levi Rudd, 6.8; 5. Tom Lewis, 16.2; no other qualified times.

Team roping: 1. Marcus Theriot/Cody Doescher, 5.4 seconds; no other qualified times.

Saddle bronc riding: 1. Layton Green, 84.5 points on Cervi Rodeo’s Payback; 2. (tie) Colt Gordon and Roper Kiesner, 82; 4. Louie Brunson, 76.5; 5. (tie) Jesse Bail and Joe Lufkin, 76; 7. Brady Nicholes, 73.5; 8. Will Smith, 71.

Tie-down roping: 1. Reese Rioemer, 8.4 seconds; 2. Seth Hall, 9.0; 3. Catfish Brown, 10.2; 4. Chase Johnston, 12.6; 5. Tate Wyly, 19.3.

Barrel racing: 1. Shelby Janssen, 17.66 seconds; 2. Jeni Cerise, 18.23; 3. Amanda Freese, 18.32; 4. Kenna Kaminski, 18.62; 5. Lauren Guntle, 18.66; no other qualified times.

Bull riding: 1. Tyler Ray Viers, 81 points on Cervi’s Hammer Time; 2. Trevor Reiste, 79; no other qualified rides.

Courtesy of twisTEDrodeo.com

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