Lawrence Battles through 21 Stitches to Finish Third in Oklahoma City
By: Justin Felisko
OKLAHOMA CITY – Stetson Lawrence came rushing into the PBR Sports Medicine room on Friday night with a look of concern on his sweat-soaked face.
Lawrence had just ridden Big Wave for 89 points to eventually win Round 1 of the PBR Express Ranches Invitational, presented by Union Home Mortgage, and his exuberant confidence had evolved into a mild state of panic.
“Where is Dr. Tandy (Freeman)?” Lawrence exclaimed to anyone in the room. “I need to be sewn up.”
Lawrence then pulled off his cowboy boot to show a significant gash on his calf, blood gushing onto his sock.
It would have been hard to believe at that moment – as well as the hours he spent at the hospital getting stitched up, or Saturday morning when he woke up to see his lacerated calf had left a red stain on his bedroom sheets – that Lawrence was going to not only ride his bull in Round 2 but nearly leave Paycom Center with an event victory.
Yet there he was on Saturday night, tossing his crutches to the side, grabbing his bull rope, and riding Theodore for 86.25 points in Round 2 despite having 21 stitches in his left calf.
“I actually am surprised it doesn’t hurt, to be honest,” Lawrence said. “But this is nothing compared to last week. Everybody is shocked I am riding, but nobody understands how tough it was for me to come back from last week.”
Lawrence had a worse scare a week ago at the PBR Ariat Invitational in Milwaukee when Casper bucked him off onto his head in the 15/15 Bucking Battle. When Lawrence initially hit the ground, he thought he was paralyzed. His mind immediately raced back to last year, when he broke his neck in a similar situation when Dirty Sancho bucked him off onto his head in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
“I was thinking déjà vu, like here we go again. Come on,” Lawrence, who needed six screws, a plate and a bone fusion to repair his neck last season, recalled. “My world was rocked in Milwaukee. I wasn’t in the right headspace after that. It scared the crap out of me. I thought I was paralyzed. I didn’t get knocked out, but I couldn’t move. I just knew I was lying in the middle of the arena, and I couldn’t get up. I started yelling I couldn’t move. Thank God my movement came back, and it was just a stinger.”
Lawrence admitted it took him most of this past week, and then his ride in Round 1 on Friday night, to get back into the proper mindset following his scary wreck in Milwaukee.
“I thought it was going to be a lot worse, but health-wise, I got two massages this past week, and I did hot yoga and did my regular workouts, and nothing hurt,” Lawrence said. “My biggest test during the week was I deadlifted 255 pounds and put a lot of tension on my neck and stuff, and nothing hurt. I was ready to go. The workouts were reassurance I could use my body and not be scared to use it.”
Lawrence had the chance to become the first rider to win two events on the Unleash The Beast this year when he entered the championship round in Oklahoma City in third place and selected Hang Em High. The team captain for the Team USA Wolves for the upcoming PBR Global Cup, presented by Monster Energy, however, was unable to cash in as Hang Em High dislodged him at the 5.45-second mark.
The North Dakota native earned 82 world points this weekend to jump to No. 3 in the world standings. Lawrence will head into next weekend’s PBR TicketSmarter Invitational, presented by Cooper Tires, in St. Louis 178 points behind world No. 1 Joao Ricardo Vieira, who left Oklahoma City with a strained left groin and is questionable for St. Louis, per Dr. Freeman.
Most of all, Lawrence is back in the right headspace – even if he now also has 21 stitches in his calf, which he would prefer to another buckoff onto his head.
“It has been a lot for me to just do my job this week,” Lawrence said. “I’ve gotten the jitters out of me, and I got back into my groove.”
Follow Justin Felisko on Twitter @jfelisko
Photo courtesy of Andy Watson/Bull Stock Media
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