By NICK YAMASHITA
Moapa Valley Progress
It was four days of dust-flying, bull-whipping, horse-grunting and cowboy-celebrating fun! Once again, the Clark County Fair and Rodeo did not disappoint rodeo fans during the days of April 10-13.
It all started on Wednesday with strong wind blowing to complicate things for the competitors. Despite this, bareback rider Clayton Biglow of Clements, CA scored 85 on the horse Outclassed. The steer wrestling event had the fans in full cheers as Nick Guy of Sparta, Wisconsin compiled a blazing time of 4.3 seconds. The team roping event did not slow down as Garrett Rogers of Baker City, Oregon and Jake Minor of Ellensburg, Washington snagged the time of 4.8 seconds.
Logandale residents Randon Adams and Jory Levy competed in the team roping but were not successful and left the arena with a no time.
The saddle bronc title belonged to the infamous Ryder Wright who scored 86 points on Bitter Dan. Tie Down Roping went to Brodi Jones of Erida, Utah with 9.1 seconds. Tonia Forsberg of Fillmore, California took the barrel racing with 17.4 seconds.
The bull riding event went to Stetson Wright with one of the best bull rides of the entire rodeo, an 87 score.
On Thursday, the talk of the rodeo was MVHS alumnus Matt Shiozawa. He lassoed the tie-down roping event fastest time with 8.3 seconds along with Weston Hughes of Caldwell, Texas who also had 8.3 seconds. Shiozawa has won the event for this rodeo in 2007 and won three National High School titles. He was sitting eighth place in the overall standings with a total time of 22.9 seconds.
After Friday and Saturday, there was a shake-up in the leader boards as they closed out the regular rounds and got ready for the Championship Round which was held on Sunday.
Bareback went to Austin Foss with 89 points on Prairie Rose. Taz Olson won on the steer wrestling with a combined time of 10.5 seconds. Team roping was taken over by the Southern and Brazilian, Kaleb Driggers and Nogueria with a total time of 10.2 seconds. The saddle bronc winner remained Ryder Wright. Tie-down was led by Tim Pharr – 19.3 seconds. Barrel racing remained Forsberg as leader and the bull riding was still led by Stetson Wright.
Sunday was a glorious day as the weather was absolutely perfect for the champions. They were as follows: bareback riding – Austin Foss 172 points, steer wrestling – Taz Olson 14.5 seconds, team roping – Rogers and Minor 15.9 seconds, saddle bronc – Isaac Diaz 174 points, tie down roping – Tuf Cooper 27.6 seconds.
Barrel racing went to Leia Pluemer with 35.01 seconds. The bull riding even belonged to Stetson Wright with 174 points. Wright also won the All-Around Cowboy title for the rodeo.
Shiozawa claimed fourth place at 31.6 seconds.
The rodeo is part of the ProRodeo Tour and had over 500 competitors from across the nation and the world.
A local highlight of the rodeo was the Sponsor Roping. Local cowboys and -girls got to live their rodeo dreams as they performed in front of the crowd in a team roping challenge.
The four teams making the finals on Saturday were from Las Vegas with teams of Kyle Millington and Shorty Tom, Chapman Dodge with Cade Steward and Derek Turley, Animal Medical with Mo and Justin Bracken, and Western States with Britney Levy and Chet Pulsipher. The Champions were Western States as they were the only ones to complete a run in the Championship.
Matt Stankowski of the Rodeo Administration thanked all sponsors of their commitment to the rodeo every year. He congratulated the winners and said he looks forward to another most entertaining rodeo next year.
For official results of the rodeo visit the Clark County Fair and Rodeo website at www.ccfair.com.
