Cowboys to Watch – July 23, Third Performance

Rough Stock Events – Bareback, Saddle Bronc and Bull Riding:

Today’s field of bareback riders includes three former champions of the Daddy of ‘Em All – Casey Colletti (2011). Orin Larsen (2016) and Will Lowe (2009 & 2012). Also competing today is Spur Lacasse, whose father Roger won here in 1994 and in 1998. Don’t be surprised if you hear someone speaking French behind the chutes (literally) as Lacasse and Pascal Isbelle are both French Canadian. Two Wyoming cowboys – Seth Harwick and Devan Reilly – begin their quest for a championship here, a goal of every contestant especially those from the Cowboy State. We will have two extra bareback riders today as well. Clayton Biglow and wyatt Denny have been collecting air miles. They rode their first horses here Saturday, then flew to Salinas, California to compete yesterday. They are flying back here today and hoping their success continues. Biglow finished second in Salinas and Denny was 8 th . Denny is sporting quite a mustache that he plans on growing until the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo in December.
Cody DeMoss has won three CFD titles in the saddle bronc riding (2004, 2010 and 2012). If he could win here again, he’d be the first individual to win an event here four times since 1960. Standing between him and that achievement is an entire field of bronc riders including Jacobs Crawley, who won here in 2016, and Jesse Bail, who took home the winner’s buckle in 2011. Crawley currently leads the world standings with his younger brother Sterling Crawley, who competes today, ranked 8 th and JJ Elshere, also in today’s field, ranked 14 th . J.W. Harris has four bull riding world championships on his resume, but he’s never won a title in Cheyenne. Harris is back on the pro rodeo circuit full time after concentrating on the PBR Tour for a few years. Three-time PBR champion Silvano Alves, a native of Brazil, competes today along with National Finals Rodeo (NFR) veterans Cody Rostockyj and Brennon Eldred. Louisiana cowboy Dustin Boquet is the highest ranked cowboy in the current standings to compete today. Bouquet is coming off of a big win at the Snake River Stampede, that just happened last Saturday night in Nampa, Idaho. That money will be added to his world standings later today and is likely to move him up from his fourth place ranking. Clayton Sellars (7 th ) and Jeff Askey (11 th ) are also in today’s field. Sellars is also leading the rookie of the year standings in the bull riding and has been competing for Western Texas College in the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association. He qualified for his second College National Finals Rodeo last June and finished as the
reserve champion.

Timed Events – Steer Wrestling, Team Roping, Tie-Down Roping and Barrel

Racing:

Cole Edge of Durant, Okla., has been near of the top of the steer wrestling standings for most of the season. He’s currently ranked second and will compete today along with Tanner Brunner who is ranked 10 th . They will be riding NFR veteran Sean Mulligan’s horses and he will haze for them. Mulligan, a UW graduate won the title here in 2000. South Dakotan Jake Rinehart was the 2009 CFD champion. At the other end of the experience spectrum are a group of three midwestern cowboys who will run a steer for the first time at the Daddy today. Ben Kilburg, Talon Roseland and Fenton Nelson arrived a day early to watch Sunday’s rodeo performance. They are traveling with Noah Lassa who has competed here once before. These cowboys have come up through the ranks of high school and college rodeo. Nelson, 23, is a graduate student at William
Woods University who qualified four times for the College National Finals. Kilburg is a junior at Missouri Valley College majoring in ag business and marketing. Roseland is a senior at Northwestern Oklahoma State University under the tutelage of NFR veteran turned rodeo coach Stockton Graves who also competes today.
Today’s team roping field features three former CFD champs, all on the heading side. Tyler Wade won in 2016 with Dakota Kirchenslager; Logan Olson won in 2008 with Bronc Cresta and Chad Masters won in 2009 with Jade Corkill. These three will all have different partners here this year and could get their heelers their first Cheyenne buckle. Of the 10 teams scheduled to rope today, 17 of the 20 contestants are ranked among the top 30 in the heading or heeling standings, including former All-Around World Champion Junior Nogueira who is roping with six-time NFR qualifier Kaleb Driggers. Junior will be keeping a close eye on the bull
riding today as he gets to watch his fellow countryman Alves.

The tie-down roping will feature the 2013 CFD champion Scott Kormos as well as the reigning college champion, Ty Harris. At 5’7” and just 160 pounds, the success that Kormos has had in his signature event is amazing. Not only has he been a champion roping here with the big head start for calves that weigh twice what he does, he has qualified for the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo 8 times. The last time that Kormos qualified for the NFR was in 2013, the same year he won the title here. He is 22 nd in the world standings and another win at Frontier Park would give him another chance. The 2015 world champion, Caleb Smidt, is also on today’s Roster. He has also had to juggle his travel schedule, horses and family this week. The former college all-around champion qualified for the final round in Salinas and finished 4th there yesterday. Smidt is currently 6 th in the world and is looking for his fifth NFR qualification.

The barrel racer with the most to gain today is Montana’s Shelly Anzick. She had a first round time of 18.17 and has ground to make up. Anzick is 25 th in the world standings and her horse can fly. If they have their day today, look for them to shave a couple tenths off of that.