The surest sign of the summer run is when rodeo athletes double-down on entering. The Earl Anderson Memorial Rodeo in Grover, Colo. and Evergreen Rodeo always overlap for Father's Day weekend. Both rodeos held their slack on Friday. Grover's schedule posted a 9 a.m. start time. while Evergreen's matinee slack at 4 p.m. should have allowed contestants the ample timeframe to make both rodeos on the same day.
Slack began in Grover with the steer roping, followed by the breakaway roping, tie-down roping, steer wrestling, team roping, and barrel racing. Evergreen's slack started with the team roping, then the steer wrestling, tie-down roping, breakaway roping, and barrel racing.
Roughly 2 1/2 hours separates the two rodeo arenas in Grover and Evergreen. Because of the high volume of steer roping, contestants who drew slack at both rodeos found themselves on a time crunch to make both rodeos.
The Earl Anderson Memorial Rodeo's delayed start time of nearly one hour from "technology issues" made matters worse. The rodeo further lagged behind as they experienced breaks in between the slack events to get judges' sheets to the secretary's office.
Steer wrestlers and traveling partners, Seth Peterson and Chisum Docheff, figured that they needed to leave Grover by 1:30 p.m. to make 4:00 p.m. slack in Evergreen. When the steer roping concluded at 1:00 p.m.; they knew their chances of conflict were fairly certain. Fortunately, Peterson and Docheff were not the only rodeo contestants who found themselves in this predicament.
Contestants called the stock contractors (The Cervi Brothers) and rodeo officials in Evergreen to let them know about the situation. As long time stock contractors, the Cervi's understood and because they would not create any other issues, made the decision to do a few extra tasks and delay their slack start time. Evergreen's rodeo officials made best use of the conflict, got coffee, and waited for their contestants to arrive.
Like many steer wrestlers, Peterson and Docheff share mounts. As they were switching horses, Grover's slack went from bad to worse. The committee at Grover realized they used the team roping barrier for the steer wrestling and said they were going to re-run the steer wrestlers after the team ropers. On paper this makes sense, because the team roping started before the steer wrestling in Evergreen. However, the numbers of the team roping in both Grover (13) and Evergreen (16) would not afford the five steer wrestlers in Grover with enough time to make both slacks.
Docheff got three-called before he had the opportunity to run his steer in Grover. Peterson and Docheff counted their losses, left Grover, and headed to Evergreen. Peterson's first place finish in Grover and second place finish in Evergreen helped to ease some of the frustration of this scenario. Unfortunately, the Grover-Evergreen situation is commonplace in professional rodeo and speaks to the archaic nature of the PRCA's entry system, PROCOM.
The PRCA implemented PROCOM in 1976. Rodeo contestants feel the effects of this out-dated system frequently. Despite entry parameters, conflicts happen frequently. While rodeo contestants have the option to trade amongst themselves to make their schedules coordinate, the process of trading has failed to evolve much past the days of entering via payphones.
The process for trading (guidelines found in PRCA Rulebook Rule R2.12.1.) involve rodeo contestants individually checking tradelists after callbacks and then finding a fellow competitor to trade positions with. The contestants trading positions must both call PROCOM entry line for the trade to process.
PROCOM also relies on this entry line when their online entry system crashes, such as it did in July 2023. PROCOM shows its age, especially in the thick of summer, when crashes become frequent due to the influx of entries.
The steer wrestlers' circ*mstance in Grover exemplifies both the worst and best aspects of rodeo. No other professional sport fosters an environment where the athletes and contract officials communicate on such a personal level. Nevertheless, no other professional sport requires their athletes to coordinate amongst themselves to make schedules work, because the system in place (PROCOM) lacks the infrastructure to avoid conflicts. And when these conflicts arise, the cowboys/cowgirls must circumnavigate an accessible online system and call in to make trades.
No other professional sport penalizes their athletes because of conflicts outside of their control, as well.
Yes, calling-in meets the requirements for a 21st century problem. Rodeo, however, will never evolve to be a professional sport in the 21st century when it relies on a 20th century system. Read more about PROCOM here.
All-around cowboy: Cash Fretwell, $536, tie-down roping and steer roping.
Bareback riding: 1. Matthew Tuni, 79 points on Summit Pro Rodeo's Cat's Pyjamas, $744; 2. (tie) Robert Walter and Grant Worthington, 77, $465 each; 4. Monte Downare, 76.5, $186.
Steer wrestling: 1. Seth Peterson, 4.7 seconds, $1,072; 2. Logan Kenline, 5.0, $804; 3. (tie) Hadley Jackson and Jace Logan, 5.2, $402 each.
Team roping: 1. J.C. Yeahquo/Buddy Hawkins II, 5.6 seconds, $1,738 each; 2. Jhett Trenary/Jake South, 5.7, $1,438; 3. (tie) Gus Kelley/Jesse Jolly and Kyon Kreutzer/Clancey Kreutzer, 5.9, $989 each; 5. (tie) Jase Staudt/Jayden Johnson and Dustin Witman/Tyler Lauridsen, 6.0, $419 each.
Saddle bronc riding: 1. (tie) Caleb Brangham, on Summit Pro Rodeo's No. 074, Brady Love, on Summit Pro Rodeo's No. 922, and Jake Schlattmann, on Summit Pro Rodeo's No. 9l99, 79.5 points, $694 each; 4. Kolt Ferguson, 77, $231.
Tie-down roping: 1. Riley Pruitt, 8.7 seconds, $1,072; 2. Cason Kingsbury, 9.0, $804; 3. Cash Fretwell, 9.1, $536; 4. Colby Anders, 9.7, $268.
Barrel racing: 1. Jentry Vandenberg, 17.53 seconds, $1,045; 2. Kelly Yates, 17.60, $896; 3. Rachel Huerkamp, 17.66, $747; 4. Katie Ferguson, 17.99, $647; 5. Mackenzie McCuistion, 18.06, $498; 6. Sami Buum, 18.09, $398; 7. Sage Kohr, 18.11, $299; 8. (tie) Chloe Eichinger and Mejrusa Rustemovic, 18.17, $174 each; 10. Kelby Eastman, 18.20, $100.
Bull riding: 1. Clayton Savage, 79 points on Summit Pro Rodeo's Mr. Beast, $1,905; 2. Ty Bertrand, 73, $1,457; 3. Kacy Jones, 70.5, $1,064; 4. Seth Green, 68, $728; 5. Cooper McClain, 63, $448; no other qualified rides. *(all totals include ground money).
Steer roping: 1. Tanner Stec, 24.2 seconds on two head, $1,531; 2. Ora Taton, 25.7, $1,148; 3. J.R. Olson, 26.7, $765; 4. Travis Mills, 27.4, $383.
Breakaway roping: 1. Ari-Anna Flynn, 2.5 seconds, $1,600; 2. Karly Teller, 2.8, $1,391; 3. Libby Winchell, 2.9, $1,183; 4. Nicole Hadley, 3.4, $974; 5. Lacy Holeman, 3.6, $765; 6. Rayne Grant, 3.7, $556; 7. Amber Hutto, 3.9, $348; 8. (tie) Jenna Lee Adams and Kassandra Shoemaker, 4.1, $70 each.
Evergreen Rodeo Results:
All-around cowboy: Rio Nutter, $961, tie-down roping and team roping.
Bareback riding: 1. Kash Martin, 88 points on The Cervi Brothers' Blue Ridge Babe, $1,650; 2. (tie) Rowdey Ray Cranston and Mason Stuller, 81, $1,075 each; 4. Owen Brouillette, 80, $600; 5. Jade Taton, 74, $350; 6. Cooper Filipek, 68, $250.
Steer wrestling: 1. Nick Guy, 5.4 seconds, $1,472; 2. Seth Peterson, 5.5, $1,218; 3. Winsten McGraw, 6.0, $964; 4. Gage Hesse, 6.3, $711; 5. Brady Buum, 6.6, $457; 6. Chisum Docheff, 6.8, $254.
Team roping: 1. Kyon Kreutzer/Clancey Kreutzer, 6.0 seconds, $1,767 each; 2. J.C. Yeahquo/Buddy Hawkins II, 6.4, $1,537; 3. Bodie Herring/Quincy Reynolds, 6.5, $1,306; 4. (tie) Austin Crist/J.W. Borrego and Rio Nutter/Coy Johnson, 6.6, $961 each; 6. (tie) Jason DeVore/Colton Devore and Chris Francis/Cade Passig, 7.7, $499 each; 8. Cristian Trevizo/Diego Rolon, 7.8, $154.
Saddle bronc riding: 1. Coleman Shallbetter, 81 points on The Cervi Brothers' Mozzarella, $1,935; 2. Brandon Lansford, 78, $1,483; 3. (tie) Jordan Iker and Cauy Pennington, 77, $903 each; 5. (tie) Ben Kukowski, Isaac Richard and Bailey Small, 75, $344 each; 8. Michael Womack, 73, $193.
Tie-down roping: 1. Darnell Johnson, 9.0 seconds, $1,390; 2. (tie) Cory Bomhoff and Cason Kingsbury, 9.2, $1,031 each; 4. (tie) Ryan Belew and Riley Pruitt, 9.3, $551 each; 6. J.D. McCuistion, 9.4, $240.
Barrel racing: 1. Rachel Huerkamp, 17.82 seconds, $1,330; 2. Kelly Allen, 18.03, $1,140; 3. Teneille Angland, 18.04, $950; 4. Sami Buum, 18.09, $824; 5. Samantha Thoenig, 18.17, $634; 6. (tie) Chloe Eichinger and Sadie Miller, 18.18, $443 each; 8. CJ Vondette, 18.26, $253; 9. Tillar King, 18.27, $190; 10. Taleen Vick, 18.30, $127.
Bull riding: 1. JR Stratford, 84 points on The Cervi Brothers' Can Crusher, $1,249; 2. Ty Pinnt, 82, $946; 3. Luke Mackey, 79, $681; 4. Clayton Savage, 74, $454; 5. Chris McKenna, 72, $265; 6. Dylan Grant, 64, $189.
Breakaway roping: 1. Tiffany Schieck, 2.9 seconds, $1,975; 2. Montana Brown, 3.0, $1,717; 3. Jessie Miller, 3.1, $1,460; 4. Willow Wilson, 3.2, $1,202; 5. Sara Montgomery, 3.3, $945; 6. Tana Johnston, 3.4, $687; 7. (tie) Samantha Haardt and Cheyanne McCartney, 3.5, $301 each.
