Retired state tourism director for Wyoming, Gene Bryan, called Cheyenne Frontier Days rookie bronc riding a rodeo unto itself, and that was clearly in evidence at ‘The Daddy’ on July 23 when it was Ben Kukowski’s turn. The Kaycee, WY cowboy, rode for Casper College and now works as a cattle buyer for Torrington Livestock. His trip in the big Cheyenne arena ended on the track in front of the grandstands. Kudos to the talented team of CFD pickup men who got there fast. Fans were supercharged, as was Ben. He pulled off the old bronc rider classic move doffing his hat to the crowd.

It’s been nearly a decade since Richmond Champion lived up to his name bareback riding at Cheyenne Frontier Days. The Texas native, now transplanted to Montana, proved on July 22 at ‘The Daddy’ he could still keep up and surpass the young guns, winning his section with an 85-point ride. Champion likes the tournament-style progressive format Cheyenne has adopted in which the top four advance in each event to semifinal competition starting Friday.

Missouri’s Allysa Spierings showed up and showed out to take home her second consecutive champion’s buckle at the fan-favorite Women’s Ranch Bronc World Finals hosted by Cheyenne Frontier Days this weekend. Women from the US, Canada, Australia, and Belgium qualified to compete, and Spierings was overjoyed with the win.

Seth Peterson earned two degrees at the University of Wyoming, and has gotten by a pair of steers at Cheyenne Frontier Days advancing to the semifinals. The North Dakota native finished in the top four on July 22 in front of packed house of more than 15,500, loving every minute of it. Peterson is head rodeo coach at Colorado State University, but he is first and foremost a cowboy, especially on a horse called ‘Coors’

A young barrel racer out to run the qualifying round pattern for her first time at Cheyenne Frontier Days on July 19 spent the better part of childhood in the announcer booth with her father, Justin McKee. He and his wife Jeannie were at ‘The Daddy’ to support daughter Kassidy. Justin is now a featured on-air talent for The Cowboy Channel. They’ll bring a crew to Cheyenne for live broadcasts of the afternoon performances starting Saturday. The McKees have a long-standing love affair with Cheyenne Frontier Days.

Cheyenne Frontier Days split 200 breakaway ropers into two groups for their preliminary qualifying round on July 18, and two women who excelled at Central Rocky Mountain Region colleges proved they could compete with anyone. Nebraskan Brandy Schaack split first and second place in Group 2, netting her calf in 3.9 seconds to earn more than $3,700 aboard her beloved ‘JuJu.’ Schaack was an all-around cowgirl for the University of Wyoming and now teaches third graders in Chadron as well as coaching girls at Chadron State. Laramie native Abbea Faris won third-place honors with a time of 4.2 seconds out of Group 1 at Cheyenne on July 18 to pick up a check for $2,300. Faris was on the college rodeo teams in Cheyenne and Casper, during which time her life course was reset.

It was a great day of tie down roping at Cheyenne Frontier Days and in fact it was the best ever. The arena record of 9.9 seconds set in 1997 was matched twice during the first qualifying round July 17. The record was surpassed two times before 205 ropers completed their work. Oklahoma’s Tyler Milligan was fastest of them all stopping the clock at 9.3 seconds to collect a check for more than $5,100.

The Cheyenne Frontier Days Arena Director sat a little taller in the saddle on July 16, watching his son’s qualifying round Team Roping run with partner Brayden Wiesen. Zane Thompson grew up on Frontier Park. His father, Frank, took over Arena Director position from Tom Hirsig around 12 years ago. Hirsig is now Cheyenne Frontier Days President & CEO. Zane & Brayden are both graduates of Burns High School and they finished well within the top 60 advancing to the first Cheyenne Frontier Days Rodeo performance. Frank Thompson won a World Champion’s Gold Buckle Steer Wrestling in 2000. The entire family is deeply involved at “The Daddy.”

More than 130 cowboys completed both preliminary rounds at Cheyenne Frontier Days on July 15, setting the steer roping field’s top twelve who will return for Championship Sunday. It is fitting a Wyoming family who’s competed at “The Daddy” since 1943 would have a representative at the Cheyenne Legacy Steer Roping Finals. Troy Tillard from Douglas won a CFD Champion Buckle in 2004. Saturday he finished two steers in 31.4 seconds, fourth in the average.