Veteran Team Roper hoping for Caldwell Night Rodeo Title
By Susan Kanode for the Caldwell Night Rodeo
Dustin Equsquiza and Kory Koontz won the first round of team roping at the 84th annual Caldwell Night Rodeo during Monday’s slack. The duo stopped the clock in 4.1 seconds earning $2,392 each. PRCA photo by Kirt Steinke.
CALDWELL, Idaho — Team roping heeler Kory Koontz has won a lot of rodeos in his 27-year career in the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association, but a win at the Caldwell Night Rodeo would be his first.
Koontz, from Stephenville, Texas, has a shot at this year’s championship after winning the first round on Monday during slack. Roping with Dustin Equisquiza, they dominated with a time of 4.1 seconds to earn $2,392. That was a half-second faster than the team in second place, Spencer Mitchell from Orange Cove, California and Russell Cardoza of Terrebonne, Oregon.
Egusquiza and Koontz were third in the world standings in the heading and heeling before the Caldwell Night Rodeo started. They qualified for last year’s Wrangler National Finals Rodeo together in 2017 and are headed there again this year. When Koontz makes his 22nd trip to Las Vegas next December, he will be competing for his first world championship. This will be Egusquiza’s second trip to Vegas. A gold buckle as a world champion is also on his bucket list.
They will rope their second steer here during one of the action-packed performances and will hope for another fast time. If that happens, they will be back on Saturday night to compete for a championship here.
Other first round winners were Marty Yates in the tie down roping and Kody Dollery in the steer wrestling. Yates, from Stephenville, Texas, stopped the clock in 7.9 seconds to win $2,354. Dollery lives in Caldwell, Texas. His 3.9-second run added $2,629 to his bank account.
Barrel racing slack will keep the action going at the rodeo arena beginning at 9 a.m. Tuesday morning. The first performance of the rodeo begins at 8 p.m. Tuesday night. It is family night and up to four children get in free with each paid adult.
The following are results after slack in steer wrestling, team roping , and tie-down roping from the Caldwell Night Rodeo.
Steer wrestling: (first round winners) 1, Kody Dolllery, Caldwell, Texas, 3.9 seconds, $2,629. 2, Shane Frey, Duncan, Okla., 4.0, $2,286. 3, (tie) Jacob Edler, Dacona, Okla., and Tyler Waguespack, Gonzales, La., 4.2 and $1,772 each. 5, Scott Guenthner, Provost, Alberta, 4.3, $1,257. 6, (tie) Sterling Lambert, Fallon, Nev.; Tom Lewis, Lehi, Utah; and Hunter Cure, Holliday, Texas, 4.5, $572. (second round leaders) 1, Tanner Milan, Cochrane, Alberta, 4.0. 2, Waguespack, 4.2. 3, Kyle Irwin, Robertsdale, Ala.; Cure and Jesse Brown, Baker City, Ore.; 4.3 each. (total on two) 1, Waguespack, 8.4. 2, Cure, 8.8. 3, Blake Mindemann, Apache, Okla., 9.3. 4, Brendan Laye, Consort, Alberta, 9.5.
Team roping: (first round winners) 1, Dustin Eguisquiza, Mariana, Fla., and kory Koontz, Stephenville, Texas, 4.1 seconds, $2,392. 2, Spencer Mitchell, Orange Cove, Calif., and Russell Cardoza, Terrebonne, Ore., 4.6, $2,080. 3, Tyler Wade, Terrell, Texas, and Tyler McKnight, Wells, Texas, 5.1. 4, (tie) Cody Snow, Los Olivos, Calif., and Wesley Thorp, Throckmorton, Texas; and Trevor Brazile, Decatur, Texas, and Patrick Smith, Lipan, Texas; 5.2. 6, (tie) Jr. Dees, Aurora, S.D., and Cody Cowden, Atwater, Calfi.; and Brandon Beers, Powell Butte, Ore., and Jason Duby, Klamath Falls, Ore., 5.3, $676. 8, (tie) Billy Bob Brown, Carbon, Texas, and Shay Carroll, Hico, Texas; and Brenten Hall, Jay, Okla., and Chase Tryan, Helena, Mont.; 5.4, $104. (second round leaders) 1, Riley and Brady Minor, Ellensburg, Wash., 4.7 seconds. 2, Bubba Bucckaloo, Kingston, Okla., and Tyler Worley, Yuma, Colo., 4.9. 3, Dees and Cowden, 7.1. 4, Brooks, Dahozy, Window Rock, Ariz., and Cody Hill, Rexburg, Idaho, 10.1. (total on two) 1 Buckaloo and Worley, 11.1. 2, Dees and Cowden, 12.4. 3, Minor and Minor, 19.4. 4, Garrett Tonozzi, Larkspur, Colo., and Joe Mattern, Plantersville, Texas, 21.2.
Tie-down roping: (first round winners) 1, Marty Yates, Stephenville, Texas, 7.9 seconds, $2,354. 2, Cory Solomon, Prairie View, Texas, 8.4, $2,046. 3, Clint Robinson, Spanish Fork, Utah, 8.5, $1,740. 4, (tie) Kody Mahaffey, Sweetwater, Texas, and Treg Schaack, Canyon, Texas, 8.9, $1,279. 6, (tie) Ryle Smith, Oakdale, Calif., and Dane Kissack, Spearfish, S.D., 9.0, $665. 8, Ty Harris, San Angelo, Texas, 9.1, $205. (second round leaders) 1, Shane Hanchey, Sulphur, La., 7.9 seconds. 2, tuf Cooper, Decatur, Texas, 8.0. 3, Trevor Brazile, Decatur, Texas, 8.3. 4, Rhen Richard, Roosevelt, Utah, 9.0. (total on two) 1, Brazile, 17.5. 2, Richard, 18.2. 3, Taylor Santos, Creston, Calif., 20.2. 4, Stetson Vest, Childress, Texaws, 20.9.