Saddle Bronc Riding Friends Dominate Caldwell Night Rodeo
By: Susan Kanode
CALDWELL, Idaho — The outdoor temperature wasn’t the only thing that was hot during the first performance of the Caldwell Night Rodeo on Tuesday, Aug. 15, 2023.
Action in the D & B Arena started and ended strong and gave fans a taste of what they can expect through the next four nights. While the full rodeo just got started, rodeo personnel, the committee and contestants have been plenty busy with preliminary competition known as slack which started on Sunday where the first round was completed in the timed events.
A total of 773 contestants have entered the 99th edition of the Caldwell Night Rodeo and everyone but the bull riders will have an opportunity to qualify for Saturday night’s Championship Finals. In the bareback riding and saddle bronc riding, the top scores from the first round get a second opportunity.
In the steer wrestling, team roping, breakaway roping, tie-down roping and barrel racing, times will be added together to determine who advances. Saturday night’s bull riding will feature the final group of contestants doing their best to ride for eight seconds.
Tuesday night’s saddle bronc riding was exceptional for a group of traveling partners from Montana, Canada, and Wyoming. They arrived and left in a group of four that took the top four places in the rodeo. Leading was Kolby Wanchuk from Sherwood Park, Alberta, who rode Burch Rodeo’s horse named Calico Color for 88.5 points. Right behind him was world standings leader Sage Newman from Melstone, Montana, with an 86.5. Chase Brooks from Deer Lodge, Mont., had an 84.5 and Tanner Butner finished fourth with an 84.
Wanchuk and Newman are likely to be among the top 12 who qualify for the finals and have a chance to earn a Caldwell Night Rodeo championship. Brooks and Butner will have to wait it out to see if their scores hold. It would be a memorable rodeo if they all get to compete for titles here. Last year, all four of them qualified for the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo (WNFR) and they have potential to do the same this year. All but Wanchuk are among the top 15 in the world, and he is in spot number 20. A win here would give him a big opportunity to move up in the standings.
It’s been since 2011 that Carlee Otero has ridden a horse into the Thomas and Mack Arena at the NFR, but she could be making another trip soon. She stopped the clock in Caldwell at 16.86 seconds, the fastest run of this year’s rodeo so far. Unfortunately, she was not as successful in the first round and won’t be riding for a championship. But if her time holds, she will be adding a $2,500 check to her earnings for her run on Tuesday night.
Otero’s last NFR appearance came as Carlee Pierce. She is married tie-down roper Michael Otero from Lowndesboro, Alabama who also competed on Tuesday stopping the clock in 8.4 seconds. He is currently seventh overall, so will be hoping that holds and he gets to rope again Saturday night.
The second performance gets underway at 8 p.m. August 16th at D & B Arena where awareness of domestic violence through the Man Up Crusade will be featured.
The following are unofficial results from the Caldwell Night Rodeo.
First Performance:
Bareback Riding: 1, Richmond Champion, Stevensville, Mont., 87 points on Burch Rodeo’s Fire Iorn. 2, Taylor Broussard, Estherwood, La., 86.5. 3, (tie) Waylon Bourgeois, Church Point, La., and Sam Petersen, Helena, Mont., 85 each.
Steer Wrestling: 1, Dalton Massey, Hermiston, Ore., 4.1 seconds. 2, Luke Gee, Stanford, Mont., 4.6. 3, Harley Cole, Okotoks, Alberta, 4.7. 4, Ryan Shuckburgh, Innisfail, Alberta, 4.8.
Team Roping: 1, Kaleb Driggers, Hoboken, Ga., and Junior Nogueira, President Prude, Brazil, 4.8 seconds. 2, Erich rogers, Round Rock, Ariz., and Paul Eaves, Lonedell, Mo., 5.1. 3, Kreece Thompson, Munday, Tesxas, and Landen Glenn, McAlester, Okla., 5.6. 4, chet Weitz, London, Texas, and Clay Green, Pine Grove, La.,, 5.7.
Breakaway Roping: 1, Shelby Boisjoli, Stephenville, Texas, 2.1 seconds. 2, Taylor Engesser, Spearfish, S.D., 2.7. 3, Cheyenne Guillory, Kingston, Okla., 3.1. 4, Kendal Peierson, Wardlow, Alberta, 3.4.
Saddle Bronc Riding: 1, Kolby Wanchuk, Sherwood Park, Alberta, 88.5 points on Burch Rodeo’s Calico Color. 2, Sage Newman, Melstone, Mont., 86.5. 3, Chase Brooks, Deer Lodge, Mont., 84.5. 4, Tanner Butner, Daniel, Wyo., 84.
Tie-Down Roping: 1, Chet Weitz, London, Texas, 7.7 seconds. 2, Monty Lewis, Hereford, Texas, 7.8. 3, Chase Joyce, Drewesey, Ore., 8.1. 4, Michael Otero, Lowndesboro, Ala.,
Barrel Racing: 1, Carlee Otero, Lowndesboro, Ala., 16.86 seconds. 2, Paige Jones, Wayne, Okla., 17.19. 3, Molly Otto, Grand Forks, N.D.,, 17.36. 4, Jackie Ganter, Abilene, Texas, 17.37. 4,
Bull Riding: (one ride) 1, JaCauy Lathan hale, Ganado, Ariz., 80.5 points on Powder River Rodeo’s 64H.
The following are first round winners in the timed events —
Steer wrestling: 1, Blake Knowles, Heppner, Ore., 3.6 seconds, $3,400. 2, Stephen Culling, Fort St. John, British Columbia, 4.1, $2,957. 3, Mike McGinn, Haines, Ore., 4.2, $2,513. 4, (tie) Olin Hannum, Malad, Idaho, and Jacob Talley, Keatchie, La.,, 4.3 and $1,848 each. 6, (tie) Riley Duvall, Checotah, Okla.; Clayton Hass, Weatherford, Texas; Denell Henderson, Damascus, Ark.; and Tyler Ravenscroft, Nenzel, Neb., 4.6, $554 each.
Team roping: 1, Tyler Wade, Terrell, Texas, and Wesley Thorp, Throckmorton, Texas, 4.0 seconds, $3,044 each. 2, Derrick Begay, Seba Dalkai, Ariz., and Colter Todd, Willcox, Ariz., 4.7, $2,647. 3, Paul David Tierney, Oklahoma City and Tanner Braden, Dewey, Okla., 4.8, $2,250. 4, Shay Carroll, Stephenville, Texas, and Max Cuttler, American Falls, Idaho, 5.0, $1,853. 5, Cody Snow, Los Olivos, Calif., and Jade Corkill, Fallon, Nev., 5.1, $1,456. 6, Riley and Brady Minor, Ellensburg, Wash., 5.2, $1,059. 7, (tie) Cody Craig, Wendell, Idaho, and Ryan Powell, Marsing, Idaho; Keven Daniel, Franklin, Tenn., and Travis Graves, Jay, Okla.; Dawson and Dillon Graham, Wainwright, Alberta; Clint Summers, Lake City, Fla., and Jake Long, Coffeyville, Kan.; Kreece Thompson, Munday, Texas, and Landen Glenn, McAlester, Okla.,, 5.3, $185 each.
Tie down roping: 1, Randall Carlisle, Athens, La., 8.2 seconds, $3,400. 2, Drake Wycherley, Hooper, Utah, 8.3, $2,957. 3, Brush Minton, Witter Springs, Calif., 8.4, $2,513. 4, Blane Cox, Cameron, Texas, 8.5, $2,070. 5, Taylor Santos, Creston, Calif., 8.6, $1,626. 6, (tie) J.T. Adamson, CODY, Neb.; Ty Harris, San Angelo, Texas; and Clint Robinson, Spanish Fork, Utah, 8.7, $739 each.
Breakaway roping: 1, Danielle, Lowman, Gilbert, Ariz., 2.1 seconds, $2,107. 2, Sarah Angelone, Stephenville, Texas, 2.3, $1,832. 3, (tie) Martha Angelone, Stephenville, Texas, and Josie Conner, Iowa, La.., 2.4, $1,420 each. 5, (tie) Shelby Logan, Marsing, Idaho, and Brittany Truman, Parma, Idaho, 2.6, $870. 7, (tie) Zoie Bedke, Oakley, Idaho and Hali Williams, Comanche, Texas, 2.7, $321 each.
Barrel Racing: Brittany Pozzi Tonozzi, Lampasas, Texas, 16.89 seconds, $2,573. 2, Abby Phillips, Marshall, Texas, 17.24, $2.206. 3, Halyn Lide, China Spring, Texas, 17.26, $1,838. 4, (tie) Wenda Johnson, Pawhuska, Okla., and Sue Smith, Blackfoot, Idaho, 17.29, $1,409 each. 6, Sissy Winn, Corpus Christi, Texas, 17.30, $980. 7, Jackie Ganter, Abilene, Texas, 17.38,, $735. 8, (tie) Katie Halbert, Port Lavaca, Texas, and Taycie Matthews, Wynne, Ark., 17.42, $429. 10, Andrea Busby, Brock, Texas, 17.45, $245.