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Champs in Hamel

By: Ruth Nicolaus

Utah cowboy wins bareback riding, readies for new baby; Texas man continues winning streak

Bull rider Brody Yeary is the 2022 Hamel Rodeo champion. Courtesy photo.

Hamel, Minn. – The biggest rodeo in Minnesota wrapped up on July 10 with nearly $110,000 in prize money paid out to the winners.

Over 350 cowboys and cowgirls competed over the five performances, with champions crowned in each of seven events.

In the bareback riding, a Utah man took home the 2022 title.

Mason Clements, ranked seventeenth in the world standings, bested the J Bar J Rodeo horse Straight Stick for 86.5 points.

Clements was ready for his eight-second-ride, even though he’d never seen the horse buck.

“A couple of buddies said (the horse) was really good,” Clements said, noting that other cowboys had scored in the upper eighties on the bronc.

But the gelding’s bucking pattern is a bit different, kicking later than other bucking horses during the required eight seconds.

“He jumps up high in the air and brings his back end up instead of kicking his legs up” first, he said. “With horses like that, if you don’t have your spurs set, holding your legs and your feet, you’ll lose your seat.”

Clements was ready. “I came over here today and had it in my mind to have a good mark out and finish really strong at ten seconds and go past the whistle.”

The 29-year-old cowboy has qualified for the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo, the PRCA’s world stage, three times and is looking for his next trip there this year.

But rodeo will take a backseat in his mind come August.

That’s when he and his wife are expecting their first child.

“Right now, I’m trying to get as much won as I can, because I have a new baby girl coming in August,” he said. “I’ll take a little time out of rodeo to take care of my wife and my baby, so getting the wins while I can is important because I might have to do dad things for a minute.”

A Texas man won the bull riding at the 2022 Hamel Rodeo.

Brody Yeary, Morgan Mill, Texas, rode the J Bar J Rodeo bull Loaded Dice for 89 points and the win.

The five-year-old bull “came around to the left,” he said, “and man, he had me on the outside the whole time. It was a fight. He’s an older bull. I might have underestimated him by a hair, but it ended up being really good.”

It was a welcome win for the 24-year-old cowboy, who has made qualified rides at his last four rodeos, but was in a dry spell prior to that.

“I’ve had a rough spring,” he said, “just haven’t been staying on. I’ve had a really rough start to the summer, but the last four (bulls) have been good.” He’s won checks at three of the last four rodeos in Laramie, Wyo., Estes Park, Colo., and now at Hamel.

“It mainly gets my confidence up, which is the biggest thing for me.”

Yeary has ties to Minnesota; his wife Brenna grew up in the Farmington and Lakeville area, and her parents and her sister were at the rodeo to watch him ride.

The Texas man is hoping his fortune has turned with his win in Hamel.

Utah cowboy Mason Clements, ranked seventeenth in the PRCA world standings, won the bareback riding at the 2022 Hamel Rodeo. Courtesy photo

“Maybe I finally got it turned around my way,” he said. “I told my traveling partner (Toby Collins) last week, don’t give up on me. As long as we keep getting on, I might get one rode before long.”

He joked about the law of averages in bull riding, that if he would keep getting on, he’d eventually make some qualified rides. “If I could ‘up’ my average, I’d like the law a lot better,” he quipped.

In 2016, his permit year of membership, Yeary competed in the permit section in Hamel and the pro section, making both qualified rides and winning money for both.

Other 2022 champions at the rodeo are steer wrestler Cyler Dowling, Newell, S.D. (7.2 seconds on two head); tie-down roper Cooper Mathews, Athens, La. (19.4 seconds on two head); team ropers Jake Orman, Prairie, Miss. and Brye Crites, Welch, Okla. (4.4 seconds); saddle bronc riders Cort Scheer, Elsmere, Neb. and Tanner Butner, Daniel, Wyo. (85 points each); and barrel racer BryAnna Haluptzok, Tenstrike, Minn. (15.47 seconds).

The permit bull riding win went to Christian Cox, Ft. Scott, Kan., for his 71 point ride on the J Bar J Rodeo bull Texas 2 Step. The permit bull riding is open to those cowboys who have their Pro Rodeo Cowboys Association permit and have not acquired their full membership yet.

This year, the Hamel Rodeo partnered with the Minnesota Lions Childhood Cancer Foundation on the July 7 night of rodeo to raise money for Minnesota families with children undergoing cancer treatment. Approximately $5,000 was raised for the foundation.

The rodeo is a fundraiser for five area non-profit organizations, and in its previous 40 years, has raised over $2 million. This year’s funds will be divided equally between the Hamel Volunteer Fire Department, the Hamel Lions Club, the Heinzen-Ditter VFW, the John Pohlker American Legion and the Lord of Life Military Family Support Ministry.

The 2023 rodeo will be July 6-9. For more information, visit the website at www.HamelRodeo.org.

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