Rodeo at 111th National Western Stock Show Finishes with a Bang
By Susan Kanode
For the National Western Stock Show
DENVER, (Jan. 22, 2017) – There is nothing like the camaraderie among rodeo contestants and rodeo fans at the National Western Stock Show go to see that first hand at the U.S. Bank Pro Rodeo Finals.
The highest money winner of the contestants at this year’s rodeo was Clayton Hass, from Weatherford, Texas, who took the steer wrestling title. His traveling partners finished right behind him in a tie for second place in front of a sold-out crowd at the Denver Coliseum.
Hass brought three steers to the ground in 11.5 seconds to earn the trophy buckle and $13,105. He did that aboard the reigning AQHA/PRCA steer wrestling horse of the year, Landry’s Cadillac. Last year was the second time that the 18-year-old gelding won the award. He was also voted the best at his game in 2014.
Cadillac was busy at Denver’s rodeo. All three of the traveling partners rode him. Along with Hass, reigning world champion Tyler Waguespack, from Gonzales, La., and Ty Erickson from Helena, Mont., rode him. They traded hazing duties as well and helped each other through the competition. Waguespack and Erickson tied for second with total times of 13.0 seconds. When the rodeo came to a close, they had won $29,161 on Cadillac.
“Those two guys are like my brothers,” Hass said. “For us to start off our year like this is awesome. That horse is phenomenal. To get off to a start like this at a rodeo this big is so good for our crew.”
Tim O’Connell from Zwingle, Iowa, came off of winning his first world championship in the bareback riding to earn his first title at the National Western. He had a total score of 255.5 points on three horses to earn $9,252. Last year here, he rode Calgary Stampede’s Reckless Margie to win the final round and finish second overall behind Jake Brown from Hillsboro, Texas.
At this year’s finals, Brown rode Reckless Margie for 88 points to win the finals and move from 12th in the standings up to fifth. Reckless Margie is a four-legged athlete that has performed well in the Denver Coliseum.
There wasn’t a happier contestant here than barrel racer Kellie Collier from Hereford, Texas. Riding her nine-year-old mare LoLo, she won the final round with the fastest run of the rodeo at 15.20 seconds.
Collier, who qualified for the College National Finals Rodeo last year is taking a sabbatical from school and making a push for her first Wrangler National Finals Rodeo qualification. She helped her cause immensely here earning $11,693.
This year’s rodeo paid $479,645 Other winners were Dustin Egusquiza from Marianna, Fla., and Kory Koontz, from Stephenville, Texas, in the team roping; Audy Reed from Spearman, Texas, in saddle bronc riding; Marcos Costa, Childress, Texas, in the tie-down roping and Dustin Bowen, Waller, Texas, in the bull riding.
Bareback Riding – Tim O’Connell, Zwingle, Iowa, 255.5 points, $9,252
Steer Wrestling – Clayton Hass, Weatherford, Texas, 11.5 seconds, $13,105
Team Roping – Dustin Egusquiza, Marianna, Fla., and
Kory Koontz, Stephenville, Texas, 15.5 seconds, $10,426 each
Saddle Bronc Riding – Audy Reed, Spearman, Texas, 254.5, $10,494
Tie-Down Roping – Marcos Costa, Childress, Texas, 24.7, $10,645
Barrel Racing – Kellie Collier, Hereford, Texas, 45.95, $11,693
Bull Riding – Dustin Bowen, Waller, Texas, 251, $10,572
All-Around – Clayton Hass, Weatherford, Texas – High money winner competing in multiple events
The following are unofficial results from the National Western Stock Show Rodeo.
Bareback Riding: (final round) 1, (tie) Jake Brown, Cleveland, Texas, 88 points on Calgary Stampede’s Reckless Margie, $1,650. 2, Tim O’Connell, Zwingle, Iowa, 87.5, $1,250. 3, Logan Corbett, Las Cruces, N.M., 84.5, $900. 4, Buck Lunak, Cut Bank, Mont., 84, $600. 5, Kody Lamb, Sherwood, Park, Alberta, 83.5, $350. 6, Chad Rutherford, Lake Charles, La., 83, $250. (total on three) 1, O’Connell, 255.5, $5,456. 2, Lamb, 249, $4,183. 3, Tanner Aus, Granite Falls, Minn., 248.5, $3,092. 4, J.R. Vezain, Cowley, Wyo., 248, $2,001. 5, Brown, 247.5, $1,273. 6, Corbett, 245.5, $909. 7, Lunak, 244.5, $727. 8, (tie) Chad Rutherford, Lake Charles, La., and Bill Tutor, Huntsville, Texas, 243 and $273 each.
Steer Wrestling: (final round) 1, Clayton Hass, Weatherford, Texaws, 3.8 seconds, $1,436. 2, Eli Lord, Sturgis, S.D., 4.2, $1,188. 3, Ty Erickson, Helena, Mont., 4.5, $941. 4, Nick Guy, Sprata, Wisc., 4.7, $693. 5, Tyler Waguespack, Gonzales, La., 4.8, $446. 6, Gary Gilbert, St. Cloud, Fla., 5.8, $248. (total on three) 1, Hass, 11.5, $5,752. 2, (tie) Erickson, and Waguespack, 13.0, $4,626. 4, Guy, 13.5, $3,501. 5, Lord, 14.0, $2,751. 6, Gilbert, 14.7, $2,001. 7, Chance E. Howard, Cedarville, Ark., 15.8, $1,250. 8, Jule Hazen, Ashland, Kan., 19.9, $500.
Team Roping: (final round) 1, Dustin Egusquiza, Marianna, Fla., and Kory Koontz, Stephenville, Texas, 5.3 seconds, $1,450. 2, Matt Sherwood, Pima, Ariz., and Joel Bach, Mount Vernon, Texas, 5.9, $1,200. 3, Clayton Van Aken, Descanso, Calif., and Shawn Darnall, Steamboat Springs, Colo., 6.8, $950. 4, Clay Smith, Broken Bow, Okla., and Paul Eaves, Lonedell, Mo., 7.5, $700. 5, Brady Tryan, Huntley, Mont., and Caleb Anderson, Mocksville, N.C., 10.7, $450. 6, Garrett Tonozzi, Fruita, Colo., and Bret Tonozzi, Loma, Colo., 10.9, $250. (total on three) 1, Egusquiza and Koontz, 15.5, $6,013. 2, Sherwood and Bach, 17.3, $5,223. 3, Smith and Eaves, 18.1, $4,444. 4, Aken and Darnall, 18.4, $3,660. 5, Tonozzi and Tonozzi, 22.3, $2,876. 6, Tryan and Anderson, 26.1, $2,092. 7, Tom Richards, Humboldt, Ariz., and Tyler McKnight, Wells, Texas, 28.6, $1,207. (on two) 8, Kelsey Parchman, Cumberland City, Tenn., and Kinney Harrell, Marshall, Texas, 9.6, $523.
Saddle Bronc Riding: (final round) 1, Cody Wright, Milford, Utah, 87 points on Calgary Stampede’s Tokyo Bubbles, $1,650. 2, Audy Reed, Spearman, Texas, 86, $1,250. 3, Jacobs Crawley, Boerne, Texas, 84.5, $900. 4, Chuck Schmidt, Faith, S.D., 84, $600. 5, Will Smith, Marshall, Mo., 83.5, $350. 6, Dylan Henson, Bloomfield, N.M., 81, $250. (total on three) 1, Reed, 254.5, $5,698. 2, Smith, 252.5, $4,368. 3, Crawley, 251, $3,229. 4, Wright, 245, $2,089. 5, Schmidt, 242.5, $1,330. 6, Wyatt Casper, Pampa, Texas, 241.5, $950. 7, Henson, 238, $760. 8, Brady Nicholes, Hoytsville, Utah, 237, $570.
Tie-Down Roping: (final round) 1, Marcos Costa, Childress, Texas, 8.5 seconds, $1,465. 2,(tie) Paul David Tierney, Oral, S.D., and Riley Pruitt, Gering, Neb., 8.7 and $1,086 each. 4, J.C. Malone, Plain City, Utah, 8.9, $707. 5, Chase Williams, Stephenville, Texas, 9.5, $455. 6, Matt Shiozawa, Chubbuck, Idaho, 9.6, $253. (total on three) 1, Costa, 24.7, $5,811. 2, Pruitt, 25.3, $5,053. 3, Williams, 26.3, $4,295. 4, Malone, 27.3, $3,537. 5, (tie) Tierney and Rhen Richard, Roosevelt, Utah, 27.9 and $2,400 each. 7, Taylor Santos, Creston, Calif., 28.2, $1,263. 8, Shiozawa 28.6, $505.
Women’s Barrel Race: (final round) 1, Kellie Collier, Hereford, Texas, 15.20 seconds, $2,634. 2, Tiany Schuster, Krum, Texas, 15.28, $1,976. 3, Kelly Yates, Pueblo, Colo., 15.30, $1,317. 4, Cayla Small, Burneyville, Okla., 15.40, $659. (total on three) 1, Collier, 45.92, $5,334. 2, (tie) Schuster, and Hailey Kinsel, Cotulla, Texas, 46.31 and $4,191 each. 4, Kali Parker, Wendell, Idaho, 46.32, $3,302. 5, Yates, 46.36, $2,540. 6, Carley Richardson, Pampa, Texas, 46.51, $2,032. 7, Small, 46.53, $1,524. 8, Lacinda Rose, Willard, Mo., 46.59, $1,016. 9, Tammy Fischer, Ledbetter, Texas, 46.73, $762. 10, Sydney Forrest, Lipan, Texas, 46.78, $508.
Bull Riding: (final round – three rides) 1, Cole Melancon, Liberty, Texas, 90 points on Summit Pro Rodeo’s Red Image, $1,650. 2, (tie) Dustin Bowen, Waller, Texas, and Riker Carter, Stone, Idaho, 82.5 and $1,075 each. (total on three) 1, Bowen, 251, $5,698. 2, Melancon, 247, $4,368. 3, Carter, 219.5, $3,229. (on two) 4, Jordan Hansen, Okotoks, Alberta, 173, $2,089. 5, Trey Benton III, Rock Island, Texas, 171, $1,330. 6, (tie) Wyatt Rogers, Tahlequah, Okla., and Trevor Rieste, Linden, Iowa, 163, $855. 8, Joe Frost, Randlett, Utah, 161.5, $570.