Pope Earns Big Check in Lovington

By: Ted Harbin

LOVINGTON, N.M. – There was a stretch earlier this season where defending world champion bareback rider Jess Pope was struggling.

It may have been the gold buckle hangover or maybe he just wasn’t being matched with the right livestock. He needed things to change; over the last couple of months, they have. He proved it with an 87-point ride on Pete Carr Pro Rodeo’s Redzilla to move into second place at the Lea County Fair and Rodeo.

“I was really excited to have that,” he said of the sorrel bucking machine. “That horse and I had some issues in Weatherford (Texas) this year and about had some issues tonight, but it ended up working out pretty good. I’m pretty pleased with it.”

While Pope finished second, there were others who won their events on the final night of Lovington’s rodeo: saddle bronc rider Damien Brennan was 89.5 on Carr’s High Dive; barrel racer Wenda Johnson stopped the clock in 17.34 seconds; team ropers Chad Masters and Trey Yates were 9.8 seconds on two runs; and Taylor Santos won the all-around title for the second straight year.

As for Pope, he sits 12^th in the world standings with a little more than $84,000 in earnings. He’d like to jump up the standings considerably by the time the WNFR rolls around, but most of all, he needs to secure his bid for Las Vegas; only the top 15 in the world standings at the conclusion of the regular season advance to the finale.

“Generally, it’s No. 1,” he said referring to his spot on the money list by the time he arrives in the Nevada desert in December. “This year I’m looking at being in the top 10 to see how the cards lay out to make it into the top five and see what chance I have at whatever else.”

Once he gets to the WNFR, he shines. He first qualified in 2020 and won the 10-ride aggregate title and earned more than $170,000. A year later, he collected $230,000 at the WNFR and added another average title. Last year, he went three for three with victories at ProRodeo’s grand championship and added his first world championship – he won another $230,000 in Las Vegas and finished the year with just shy of $400,000

Over that stretch, he snagged $951,000, with $632,153 coming at the finale. That’s his honey hole, but he’s had pretty good luck in Lovington. He’s placed second twice and earned almost $8,000 doing so.

“I really like Lovington,” said Pope, a 24-year-old newlywed from Waverly, Kansas. “I had some tough luck the first time I ever came; I tore my hamstring. Other than that, I’ve won a pretty good check out of here every year I’ve been.”

It helps to draw good horses, and he did that with Redzilla, powerful red horse that has bucked five times at the WNFR. It’s not just the Carr string that’s been in Lovington this week, though. The livestock producer has also had several other stock contractors provide their best animals to the mix.

“That says a lot about Pete,” Pope said. “There are a lot of contractors that won’t sub-lease things, and Pete realizes that with better the production, the better horses you have across the board, you’re going to get more cowboys.

“It just makes your rodeo all the better. He has a great string of bucking horses, but when you get 40 guys to enter, it’s hard to put 40 top-notch horses together out of one firm, so it’s really cool that he brings other people in.”

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Lea County Fair and Rodeo
Lovington, N.M.
Aug. 9-12

All-around cowboy: Taylor Santos, $5,804 in tie-down roping and steer roping.

Bareback riding: 1. Richmond Champion, 88.5 points on Pickett Pro Rodeo’s Uncapped, $5,922; 2. Jess Pope, 87, $4,540; 3. Tim O’Connell, 85.5, $3,356; 4. (tie) Sam Petersen, Jacob Lees Mason Clements and Ty Pope, 84, $1,333 each; 5. Chad Rutherford, 83.5, $592.

Steer wrestling: First round: 1. Riley Westhaver, 3.7 seconds, $2,034; 2. Tyler Pearson, 4.0, $1,769; 3. Gus Franzen, 4.1, $1,503; 4. (tie) Joshua Hefner and Remey Parrott, 4.2, $1,105 each; 6. Laramie Warren, 4.3, $707; 7. Darcy Kersh, 4.5, $442; 8. (tie) Mitch Hutto and Tristan Martin, 4.6, $88 each. Second round: 1. Riley Duvall, $2,033; 2. (tie) Heath Thomas and Laramie Warren, 3.7, $1,636 each; 4. Mason Couch, 3.9, $1,238; 5. Cody Devers, 4.0, $973; 6. (tie) Don Payne and Cash Robb, 4.2, $575 each; 8. Trisyn Kalawaia, 4.3, $177. Average: 1. Laramie Warren, 8.0 seconds on two runs, $3,051; 2. Remey Parrott, 8.7, $2,653; 3. Josh Hefner, 9.0, $2,255; 4. (tie) Heath Thomas and Tristan Martin, 9.1, $1,658 each; 6. (tie) Trisyn Kalawaia and Rowdy Parrott, 9.4, $862; 8. Mitch Hutto, 10.2, $266.

Tie-down roping: First round: 1. Trevor Hale, 8.7 seconds, $3,002; 2. Jake Pratt, 8.8, $2,611; 3. Marcos Costa, 8.9, $2,219; 4. Cory Solomon, 9.1, $1,827; 5. Caleb Smidt, 9.2, $1,436; 6. Shane Hanchey, 9.5, $1,044; 7. Garrett Jacobs, 9.6, $653; 8. (tie) Dylan Hancock and Kalai Nobriga, 10.2, $131 each. Second round: 1. Riley Webb, 7.2 seconds, $3,002; 2. (tie) Tuf Cooper, Taylor Santos and Quade Hiatt, 8.0, $2,219 each; 5. Dylan Hancock, 8.1, $1,436; 6. Tom Crouse, 8.2, $1,044; 7. Kody Mahaffey, 8.3, $653; 8. (tie) Ty Harris and Luke Potter, 8.5. Average: 1. Cory Solomon, 18.1 seconds on two runs, $4,503; 2. Trevor Hale, 18.2, $3,916; 3. Dylan Hancock, 18.3, $3,328; 4. Luke Potter, 19.5, $2,741; 5. Caleb Smidt, 19.6, $2,154; 6. Marcos Costa, 20.0, $1,566; 7. Lane Livingston, 20.1, $979; 8. Riley Webb, 20.4, $392.

Breakaway roping: 1. Rylee George, 2.0 seconds, $5,631; 2. Brighton Bauman, 2.1, $4,505; 3. Maddy Deerman, 2.2, $3,660; 4. Kayelen Helton, 3.4, $2,815; 5. Taylor Munsell, 2.5, $2,252; 6. Josie Conner, 2.6, $1,689; 7. (tie) Christi Braudrick, Lindsey Baker and Hailey Schafer, 2.8, $1,267 each; 10. Madalyn Richards, 3.0, $985; 11. (tie) Macy Davenport and Madison Outhier, 3.3, $774 each; 13. (tie) Mackenzie Watkins, Alex Loiselle and Bailey Jay, 3.4, $442 each.

Saddle bronc riding: 1. Damian Brennan, 89.5 points on Pete Carr Pro Rodeo’s High Dive, $6,007; 2. Logan Hay, 88.5, $4,605; 3. (tie) Will Pollock and Ross Griffin, 87.5, $2,803 each; 5. (tie) Tanner Butner, Cash Wilson and Lefty Holman, 87, $1,068 each; 8. Ryder Sanford, 86, $601.

Team roping: First round: 1. Derrick Begay/Colter Todd, 4.5 seconds, $2,483 each; 2. Coleman Proctor/Logan Medlin, 4.6, $2,159; 3. Luke Brown/Hunter Koch, 4.8, $1,835; 4. (tie) Tanner Bryson/Tye Reddell, Jake Clay/Kollin VonAhn and Kreece Thompson/Landen Glenn, 4.9, $1,188 each; 7. Nelson Wyatt/Chase Tryan, 5.0, $540; 8. (tie) Brock Grashuis/Oliver White and Andrew Ward/Buddy Hawkins II, 5.1, $108 each. Second round: 1. (tie) Kaleb Driggers/Junior Nogueira and Tyler Wade/Wesley Thorp, 4.0 seconds, $2,321 each; 3. Erich Rogers/Paul Eaves, 4.1, $1,835; 4. (tie) Chad Weitz/Cutter Thomison and Chad Masters/Trey Yates, 4.2, $1,350 each; 6. Keven Daniel/Travis Graves, 4.3, $864; 7. (tie) Peyton Holliday/Kolton Good and Clint Summers/Jake Long, 4.4, $378 each. Average: 1. Chad Masters/Trey Yates, 9.8 seconds on two runs, $3,725; 2. Clint Summers/Jake Long, 10.0, $3,329; 3. Tanner Baldwin/Tanner Luttrell, 10.9, $2,753; 4. Tanner Bryson/Tye Reddell, 11.1, $2,267; 5. Chris Francis/Cade Passig, 11.6, $1,781; 6. Chad Weitz/Cutter Thomison, 11.9, $1,296; 7. Wyatt Kent/Jacob Auza, 13.2, $810; 8. Kaleb Driggers/Junior Nogueira, 13.6, $324.

Steer roping: First round: 1. (tie) Tanner Stec and Dalton Walker, 11.7 seconds, $1,752 each; 3. Tony Reina, 12.0, $1,385; 4. (tie) Cole Patterson and Rocky Patterson, 12.6, $1,018 each; 6. Trenton Johnson, 12.7, $652; 7. Mike Chase, 13.2, $407; 8. Slade Wood, 13.7, $163. Second round: 1. John E. Bland, 11.2 seconds, $1,874; 2. (tie) J. Tom Fisher and Taylor Santos, 11.5, $1,507 each; 4. Chet Herren, 12.6, $1,141; 5. Slade Wood, 12.7, $896; 6. Martin Poindexter, 12.9, $652; 7. Dalton Walker, 13.0, $407; 8. (tie) Tyler Hargrave and Quay Howard, 13.3, $81 each. Third round: 1. Jess Tierney, 11.6 seconds, $1,874; 2. Cooper Mills, 12.3, $1,629; 3. Martin Poindexter, 12.4, $1,385; 4. Garrett Hale, 12.9, $1,141; 5. Roger Branch, 13.3, $896; 6. Cody Lee, 13.5, $652; 7. (tie) Tanner Stec and Scott Snedecor, 13.8, $285 each. Average: 1. Tanner Stec, 39.9 seconds on two runs, $2,811; 2. Slade Wood, 41.6, $2,444; 3. Taylor Santos, 43.0, $2,077; 4. Garrett Hale, 44.0, $1,711; 5. Scott Snedecor, 44.7, $1,344; 6. Billy Good, 45.0, $978; 4. Mike Chase, 45.5, $611; 5. Coleman Proctor, 46.2, $244.

Barrel racing: 1. Wenda Johnson, 17.34 seconds, $6,236; 2. Jamie Olsen, 17.40, $4,989; 3. LaTricia Duke, 17.48, $4,053; 4. Katelyn Scott, 17.54, $3,118; 5. Tara Carr, 17.55, $2,494; 6. Tara Seaton, 17.58, $1,871; 7. (tie) Victoria Procter and Keyla Costa, 17.60, $1,481 each; 9. Kortni McConnell, 17.63, $1,247; 10. Bryana Lehrmann, 17.65, $1,091; 11. Rainey Skelton, 17.66, $935; 12. Emily Beisel, 17.72, $780; 13. Ilyssa Riley, 17.76, $624; 14. Hailey Kinsel, 17.77, $468; 15. Sierra Scott-Williams, 17.81, $312.

Bull riding: 1. Trey Kimzey, 89 points on Stockyards Rodeo’s Cheddar Biscuit, $6,686; 2. Trevor Reiste, 88.5, $5,241; 3. Deklan Garland, 87.5, $4,003; 4. Clayton Sellars, 87, $2,765; T Parker, 86.5, $1,940; no other qualified rides.

Courtesy of twisTEDrodeo.com