Knowles Wins Back-to-Back Steer Wrestling Titles at Caldwell Night Rodeo

By Susan Kanode for the Caldwell Night Rodeo

CALDWELL, Idaho – A year ago, Trevor Knowles won the steer wrestling title at the Caldwell Night Rodeo with his parents sitting in the stands cheering him on.

This year, his family couldn’t make it. His father, Jeff, has been critically ill since March and while he is doing better, home is a good place for them to be. However, Knowles’ dad was with him in spirit and the 12-time Wrangler National Finals Rodeo qualifier honored him by wearing a buckle that he had won here in 1979.

“It’s a cool buckle,” Knowles said. “He competed here in tie-down roping and steer wrestling and won the all-around. I’m proud to wear it and it means a lot to me.”

The win here on Saturday night was critical for the Mount Vernon, Ore., resident. Last Monday he was ranked 18th in the world and needs to move into the top 15 and stay there through September to make the trip to Las Vegas to compete at rodeo’s championships in December. He won $5,584 here. That will get him very close to the top 15.

Winning this rodeo was really important for two other champions. Richmond Champion from the Woodlands, Texas, won the first round, final round and overall title in bareback riding. The horse that took him to the top of the leaderboard on Saturday night was Burch Rodeo’s Pinball Girl. He scored 84 points, just a half point less than his first- round winning ride.

Champion had a total of 168.5 points and earned $8,328. He entered the rodeo in 16th in the world, so while his berth at the NFR isn’t secured by any means, he is much closer to his second qualification.

It would seem that tie-down roper Tyson Durfey has the most ground to make up having started the week in 25th place. However, the gap from 25 to 15 is pretty narrow and with the $7,426 he won here, he will get a big boost in the world standings. The Weatherford, Texas, resident won the second round, finished second in the finals and had a total time of 26.0 seconds on three calves to get the championship spurs awarded here.

Durfey, whose wife is just two weeks away from giving birth to their first child is spending time and money on airplanes going between rodeos and home. If he can juggle things right, he will be home when the baby is born and if he keeps winning, the family will all be going to Las Vegas for Durfey to compete in his ninth NFR.

Other winners here were team ropers Colby Lovell from Madisonville, Texas, and Travis Graves from Jay, Okla; Zeke Thurston from Big Valley, Alberta, in the saddle bronc riding; Sherry Cervi from Marana, Ariz., in the barrel racing; and Jeff Askey from Athens, Texas, in the bull riding. This year’s rodeo paid $291,475.

Plans for the 83rd Caldwell Night Rodeo are already underway. Saturday night’s performance was sold out a half hour before the rodeo started and the committee is making expansion plans for the future. More information is available at www.caldwellnightrodeo.com.

2016 Caldwell Night Rodeo Champions

Bareback Riding – Richmond Champion, The Woodlands, Texas, 168.5 points, $8,328
Steer Wrestling – Trevor Knowles, Mount Vernon, Ore., 14.3 seconds, $5,584
Team Roping Header – Colby Lovell, Madisonville, Texas, 17.6 seconds, $6,935
Team Roping Heeler – Travis Graves, Jay, Okla., 17.6 seconds, $6,935
Saddle Bronc Riding – Zeke Thurston, Big Valley, Okla., 169.5 points, $6,085
Tie-Down Roping – Tyson Durfey, Weatherford, Texas, 26.0 seconds, $7,426
Barrel Racing – Sherry Cervi, Marana, Ariz., 52.10 seconds, $5,055
Bull Riding – Jeff Askey, Athens, Texas, $10,583

The following are final round and overall results from the Caldwell Night Rodeo.

Bareback Riding: (final round) 1, Richmond Champion, The Woodlands, Texas, 84 points on Burch Rodeo’s Pinball Girl, $1,650. 2, Joel Schlegel, Burns, Colo., 83, $1,250. 3, Caleb Bennett, Tremonton, Utah, 82.5, $900. 4, R.C. Landingham, Hat Creek, Calif., 81, $600. 5, (tie) Bill Tutor, Huntsville, Texas, and Orin Larsen, Inglis, Manitoba, 79, $300. (total on two) 1, Champion, 168.5, $3,339. 2, Schlegel, 163, $2,560. 3, Bennett, 158.5, $1,892. 4, Larsen, 157, $1,224. 5, Jessy Davis, Power, Mont., 156, $779. 6, Landingham, 155.5, $557. 7, (tie) Cody kiser, Carson City, NEv., and Morgan Wilde, McCammon, Idaho, 154, $390 each.

Steer wrestling: (final round) 1, Trevor Knowles, Mount Vernon, Ore., 3.9 seconds, $1,363. 2, Dean Gorsuch, Gering, Neb., 4.1, $1,128. 3, Josh Clark, Belgrade, Mont., 4.3, $893. 4, Olin Hannum, Malad, Idaho, 4.4, $658. 5, Tanner Milan, Cochrane, Alberta, 4.7, $423. 6, Nick Guy, Sparta, Wisc., 5.1, $235. (total on three) 1, Knowles, 14.3, $4,221. 2, Gorsuch, 14.5, $3,270. 3, Hannum, 14.6, $3,120. 4, Clark, 15.1, $2,569. 5, Guy, 15.2, $2,019. 6, Tanner milan, Cochrane, Alberta, 15.6, $1,458. 7, Taz Olson, Prairie City, S.D., 16.1, $918. 8, Jace Melvin, Fort Pierre, S.D., 17.0, $367.

Team roping: (final round) 1, Colby Lovell, Madisonville, Texas, and Travis Graves, Jay, Okla., 6.9 seconds, $928. 2, Travis Whitlow, Queen Creek, Ariz., and Tyler Getzwiller, Scottsdale, Ariz., 6.5, $768. 3, Lane Ivy, Adrian, Texas, and B.J. Dugger, Three Rivers, Texas, 6.7, $608. 4, J.B. James, Jr., Bennett, Colo., and Brock Hansen, Casa Grande, Ariz., 7.0, $448. 5, Cody Snow, Los Olivos, Calif., and Dugan Kelly, Paso Robles, Calif., 7.2, $288. 6, Coleman Proctor, Pryor, Okla., and Billie Jack Saebens, Nowata, Okla., 11.8, $160. (total on three) 1, Lovell and Graves, 17.6, $3,910. 2, James and Hanson, 20.7, $3,400. 3, Whitlow and Getzwiller, 21.1, $2,890. 4, Ivy and Dugger, 22.0, $2,380. 5, Snow and Kelly, 24.2, $1,870. 6, Proctor and Saebens, 24.8, $1,360. 7, McKennan Buckner, Powell Butte, Ore., and Bill Justus, Haines, Ore., 47.1, $850. 8, (tie) Kaleb Driggers, Albany, Ga., and Junior Nogueira, Burleson, Texas, and Randon Adams, Logandale, Nev., and Jory Levy, Logandale, Nev., 12.1, $170.

Saddle bronc riding: (final round) 1, Zeke Thurston, Big Valley, Alberta, 87 points on D & H Cattle Company’s Show me Again, $1,650. 2, CoBurn Bradshaw, Beaver, Utah, 84.5, $1,240. 3, (tie) Cody DeMoss, Heflin, La., and Jesse Wright, Milford, Utah, 82.5, $750. 5, Sterling Crawley, Stephenville, Texas, 82, $350. 6, Cody Wright, Milford, Utah, 80.5, $250. (total on two) 1, Thurston, 169.5, $2,831. 2, Bradshaw, 165, $2,171. 3, Jesse Wright, 162.5, $1,604. 4, DeMoss, 162, $1,038. 5, Crawley, 161, $661. 6, Louie Brunson, New Underwood, S.D., 160.5. 7, Cody Wright, 159.5, $378. 8, (tie) Sam Spreadborough, Snyder, Texas, and Chet Johnson, Douglas, Wyo., 159, $142 each.

Tie-down roping: (final round) 1, Blane cox, Cameron, Texas, 7.9, 41,088. 2, Tyson Durfey, Weatherford, Texas, 8.3, $900. 3, Marcos Costa, Childress, Texas, 9.0, $713. 4, Dane Kissack, Spearfish, S.D., 9.5, $525. 5, Michael Otero, Lowndesboro, Ala., 9.7, $338. 6, Westyn Hughes, Caldwell, Texas, 9.9, $188. (total on two) 1, Durfey, 26.0, $3,916. 2, Hughes, 26.8, $3,405. 3, Cox, 27.1, $2,894. 4, Costa, 28.2, $2,384. 5, J.C. Malone, Hooper, Utah, 28.4, $1,873. 6, Cade Swor, Winnie, Texas, 29.1, $1,362. 7, (tie) Dane Kissack, Spearfish, S.D., and Paul David Tierney, Oral, S.D., 29.2, $596.

Barrel racing: (final round) 1, Kelsey Lutjen, Casa Grande, Ariz., 17.15, $1,417. 2, Jane Melby, Burneyville, Okla., 17.22, $1,063 3, Sammi Bessert, Grand Junction, Colo., 17.24, $708. 4, Stevi Hillman, Weatherford, Texas, 17.34, $354. (total on three) 1, Cervi, 52.10, $2,869. 2, Melby, 52.12, $2,459. 3, Amber Leigh Moore, Salem, Ore., 52.17, $2,049. 4, Stevi Hillman, Weatherford, Texas, 52.22, $1,776. 5, Sammi Bessert, Grand Junction, Colo., 52.39, $1,366. 6, Kelsey Lutjen, Casa Grande, Ariz., 52.40, $1,093. 7, Darby Fox, King hill, Idaho, 5249, $820. 8, Benette little, Ardmore, Okla., 52.57, $546. 9, Kim Schulze, Larkspur, Colo., 52.75, $410. 10, Katelyn McLeod, Whitesboro, Texas, 52.84, $273.

Bull riding: (first round) 1, Jeff Askey, Athens, Texas, 85.5 points on D & H Cattle Company’s Savage Moves, $7,937. 2, Roscoe Jarboe, New Plymouth, Idaho, 81.5, $8,731. 3, Lonnie West, Cadogan, Alberta, 78.5, $7144.

Courtesy of PRCA