Days of ’47 Cowboy Games & Rodeo Brings Top Talent & Action to Salt Lake City
By: Ann Bleiker
SALT LAKE CITY – A mix of top talent and those looking to become household names found their way onto the top of the leaderboard on night No. 2 at the Days of ’47 Cowboy Games and Rodeo presented by Zions Bank in Salt Lake City.
Trenten Montero of Winnemucca, Nevada, and three-time PRCA World Champion Tim O’Connell of Zwingle, Iowa, duked it out on Wednesday night with Montero taking the win in the bareback riding. Montero rode Powder River Rodeo’s Rich & Fancy for 88.5 points to knock the recent Calgary Stampede champion off the leaderboard. O’Connell spurred Bar T Rodeo’s Lite My Fire for 85 points. Montero will now advance to the final round on Saturday night, while O’Connell will have to wait it out to see if his ride will be enough to advance.
A total of 288 competitors will take their shot at a share of the $562,500 in prize money and a Gold, Silver or Bronze medal that will be awarded on Saturday, July 24. There will be 32 competitors in each of the following events: bareback riding, steer wrestling, team roping, saddle bronc riding, tie-down roping, women’s breakaway roping, barrel racing and bull riding.
The full field of 32 competitors is divided into four groups of eight and competes in one of the first four performances (July 20-23). The one (1) highest score/fastest time from each discipline of each performance will advance to the Gold Medal Round along with the three (3) highest scores/fastest times overall, from all four combined Semi-Final performances that have not yet advanced. In addition, the #1 ranked athlete in each discipline (for team roping it is the highest-ranked team after pairing) of the final audited standings of the WCRA Segment 8 Leaderboard will be automatically qualified for the Gold Medal Round, making a total of eight (8) contestants in each discipline to compete in the Gold Medal Round. Scores/times from the Semi-Final performances will NOT carry forward to the Gold Medal Round (only to break ties). The 8 competitors in each event in the Gold Medal Round will compete in a sudden-death format, with the winner collecting a Gold Medal and $25,000 cash.
A household family name in steer wrestling rose to the top of the leaderboard in Salt Lake City. Riley Duvall of Checotah, Oklahoma, known as the steer wrestling capital of the world, stopped the clock in a time of 4.13 seconds to punch his ticket to the Gold Medal Round on July 24. Jesse Brown of Baker City, Oregon, was close behind in 4.16 seconds.
Team ropers Coy Rahlmann and Douglas Rich took the victory lap on night two in the team roping after stopping the clock in 4.69 seconds. Rahlmann of Ellinsore, Missouri, and Rich of Millsap, Texas, will now turn their focus to trying to win Gold on Saturday night. Rich won the bronze medal in 2019 with Cory Clark, but Rahlmann is looking for his first Days of ’47 Cowboy Games and Rodeo medal.
Riggin Smith of Winterset, Iowa, rode Bar T Rodeo’s Twice Shy for 82.5 points to take the saddle bronc win during the second performance knocking Jake Burwash off the leaderboard with his 76.5 points. Burwash of Nanton, AB, Canada, was trying to add a gold medal to the family collection. His father, Robin Burwash, won the gold medal in 1988 in bareback riding when rodeo was an exhibition event during the Winter Olympics in Calgary. Although he didn’t advance this year, he will keep it on his bucket list.
Ryan Jarrett was the first tie-down roper out on Wednesday night and set a bar that no one came close to catching. Jarrett, the 2005 PRCA All-Around champion, stopped the clock in 8.94 seconds to easily advance to the final round on Pioneer Day on Saturday. Tanner Green of Cotulla, Texas, was second with a 9.32.
Tacy Kay Webb turned in a blistering run in the women’s breakaway roping, stopping the clock in 2.40 seconds to move on to her first Gold Medal Round. With the second performance win, she pocketed $1,600. Hailey Schafer of San Tan Valley, Arizona, was second in a time of 4.74 seconds.
While barrel racers usually prefer the top of the ground, the last two nights, the final lady out has finished atop the leaderboard. The first night, Kassie Mowry was the victor, and on Wednesday night, Sue Smith of Blackfoot, Idaho, turned in the top time. Smith stopped the clock in 17.389 seconds to knock off Wenda Johnson, who was third out on the ground. Johnson, a nurse practitioner, rounded the cloverleaf pattern in a time of 17.410.
Utah’s own cowboy Dalton Rudman put an exclamation on the night, scoring 90.5 points on Bar T Rodeo’s Angel’s Landing. Rudman of Wellington, Utah, had the home-state crowd on their feet cheering him to the Gold Medal Round. He is hoping to replicate tonight’s ride on Saturday night to stand atop the medal podium. Chase Dougherty of Decatur, Texas, was the only other bull rider to finish with a qualified ride, scoring 83.5 on Northcott-Macza Ugly Wish.
The Days of ’47 Cowboy Games & Rodeo, presented by Zions Bank, is taking place at the $17.5 million state-of-the-art Days of ’47 Arena at the Utah State Fairpark, custom-designed and built for rodeo. The venue—an outdoor arena located in the heart of Salt Lake City—features over 10,000 stadium-style seats.
For only the sixth time in the history of rodeo, riders will have an opportunity to compete for Gold, Silver or Bronze Medals. The first two times were in conjunction with the Olympic Winter Games in Calgary (1988) and Salt Lake City (2002), when rodeo was part of the Cultural Olympiad. The other three times were the Days of ’47 Cowboy Games and Rodeo 2017-2019. This will be the second time for breakaway ropers as their event was added to the roster in 2019. The medals awarded at the Days of ’47 Cowboy Games & Rodeo will be produced by OC Tanner, the same company that made the Olympic medals for the champions of the 2002 Olympic Winter Games.
Tickets are still available for Thursday night and Friday night at www.axs.com. For more information on the event, visit www.daysof47cowboygames.com.
For those unable to attend in person, the Days of ’47 Cowboy Games & Rodeo is being live-streamed on RidePass PlutoTV-Channel 720 nightly at 7:30 p.m. MT. CBS will air the Gold Medal Round of the Days of ’47 Cowboy Games and Rodeo on July 31 at 11 a.m. MT.
Action at the Day of ’47 Cowboy Games & Rodeo continues July 22 at 7:30 p.m. MT.
Results: – Performance 2 – July 21, 2021
Bareback riding: 1. Trenten Montero, Winnemucca, NV, 88.5 points on Powder River Rodeo’s Rich & Fancy, $1,600; 2. Tim O’Connell, Zwingle, IA, 85 on Bar T Rodeo’s Lite My Fire, $1,200; 3. Taylor Broussard, Estherwood, LA, 83 on Power River Rodeo’s 99 Problems, $800; 4. Anthony Thomas, Houston, TX, 80.5 on Power River Rodeo’s Blue Collar, $400.
Gold Medal Round current qualifiers: Caleb Bennett (WCRA No. 1), Richmond Champion (Perf 1 winner), Trenten Montero (Perf 2 winner)
Steer wrestling: 1. Riley Duvall, Checotah, OK, 4.13 seconds, $1,600; 2. Jesse Brown, Baker City, OR, 4.16, $1,200; 3. Scott Guenthner, Provost, AB, Canada, 4.22, $800; 4. Jacob Talley, 4.44, $400.
Gold Medal Round current qualifiers: Will Lummus (WCRA No. 1), Cody Devers (Perf 1 winner), Riley Duvall (Perf 2 winner)
Team roping: 1. Coy Rahlmann, Ellinsore, MO/Douglas Rich, Millsap, TX, 4.69 seconds, $1,600 each; 2. Tanner Green, Cotulla, TX/Will Woodfin, Stephenville, TX, 4.97, $1,200; 3. Clay Tryan, Billings, MT/Jake Long, Coffeyville, KS, 5.79, $800; 4. Brooks Dahozy, Window Rock, AZ/Evan Arnold, Stephenville, TX, 6.20, $400.
Gold Medal Round current qualifiers: Kaleb Driggers/Junior Nogueira (WCRA No. 1), Joe Mattern/Lucas Falconer (Perf 1 winner), Coy Rahlmann/Douglas Rich (Perf 2 winner)
Saddle bronc riding: 1. Riggin Smith, Winterset, IA, 82.5 points on Bar T Rodeo’s Twice Shy, $1,600; 2. Jake Burwash of Nanton, AB, Canada, 76.5 on Northcutt-Macza’s Big Surprize, $1,200; 3. (tie) Clint Lindenfeld, Dayton, TX, on Bar T Rodeo’s Bitter Dan, and Brandon Lansford, Cotulla, TX, on Northcutt-Macza’s Bottoms Up, 75.5, $600 each.
Gold Medal Round current qualifiers: Kolby Wanchuk (WCRA No. 1), Lefty Holman (Perf 1 winner), Riggin Smith (Perf 2 winner)
Tie-down roping: 1. Ryan Jarrett, Comanche, OK, 8.94 seconds, $1,600; 2. Tanner Green, Cotulla, TX, 9.32, $1,200; 3. Cy Eames, Gooding, ID, 14.28, $800; 4. no other qualified runs.
Gold Medal Round current qualifiers: Riley Webb (WCRA No. 1), Westyn Hughes (Perf 1 winner), Ryan Jarrett (Perf 2 winner)
Breakaway roping: 1. Tacy Kay Webb, 2.40 seconds, $1,600; 2. Hailey Schafer, San Tan Valley, AZ, 4.74, $1,200; 3. Sawyer Gilbert, Buffalo, SD, 7.30, $800; 4. Jordan Jo Fabrizio, Springtown, TX, 7.58, $400.
Gold Medal Round current qualifiers: Josie Conner (WCRA No. 1), Tibba Smith (Perf 1 winner), Tacy Kay Webb (Perf 2 winner)
Barrel racing: 1. Sue Smith, Blackfoot, ID, 17.389 seconds, $1,600; 2. Wenda Johnson, Pawhuska, OK, 17.410, $1,200; 3. Amanda Welsh, Gillette, WY, 17.445, $800; 4. Ashley Lawson, Star, ID, 17.481, $400.
Gold Medal Round current qualifiers: Hallie Hanssen (WCRA No. 1), Kassie Mowry (Perf 1 winner), Sue Smith (Perf 2 winner)
Bull riding: 1. Dalton Rudman, Wellington, UT, 90.5 points on Bar T Rodeo’s Angel’s Landing, $1,600; 2. Chase Dougherty, Decatur, TX, 83.5 on Northcutt-Macza’s Ugly Wish, $1,200; no other qualified rides.
Gold Medal Round current qualifiers: Joao Ricardo Vieira (WCRA No. 1), Keyshawn Whitehorse (Perf 1 winner), Dalton Rudman (Perf 2 winner)
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